Hidden Realms

by Dean Murray

  “Yep.” My cheeks hurt from the smile plastered to my face. “Isn’t it great?”

  He shook his head. He was silent the entire ride back to the dorm.

  Zach came up to my room. I hated thinking of it as that. I wanted Cassie back here as soon as possible.

  He sat on the couch, while I fiddled with the recorder that Adam had given me. I replayed a little of the static before I shut it off. I couldn’t imagine listening to the thing for hours, hoping to catch a voice that shouldn’t be heard.

  “So let me get this straight. Finn, the lord of fire, brought roses to Cassie?” Zach asked. His expression was more than a little skeptical.

  Finn’s statement to Cassie in the gift shop made total sense now. “I know it’s hard to believe, but he didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  He shot me a wary look. “I wouldn’t trust him if I were you.”

  How dumb did he think I was? “Like I was planning to. It was just nice to have one of them interested in someone else for a change.”

  He smirked. “It can’t last long. They’re here to claim you for the good of the realm. One of them is bound to figure out a way to do it if we give him enough time.”

  I sat next to him, taking his hand in mine. “You still haven’t told me how you know all of this.”

  He glared. “Stop asking. It will be easier for both of us that way.”

  I was just going to come out with it. I had to know. “Are you an Elemental, too?”

  He looked as though I had just asked him if he could fly. He barked out a laugh. His words were hard to understand between his exaggerated guffaws. “There are no male Elementals, Rayla.”

  I frowned at him. “It was a logical question, so stop laughing at me.”

  His lips quivered. He held a serious expression for a second. “Nope, can’t do it.” The thunderous amusement started again.

  I had never seen him laugh this hard. It was a belly laugh, the kind that makes your insides tight with pain.

  I giggled a little. “What’s so funny?”

  He held up a finger, breathing in deeply through his nose. He looked away, clearly trying to compose himself. He finally spoke after a few minutes. “Plenty have tried to create a male Elemental, especially men who come from long lines of exclusively male children. It never works. Elementals only bear girls. I cannot tell you the why of it, but it has never happened. It likely never will.”

  The thought brought more questions. “Women are the only ones with this power?” How did fae women feel about that? I couldn’t imagine any female thinking it was okay for men to hold more power than they did. Were lords the only fae that could bond with an elemental? I wanted to know now more than ever what exactly bonding was.

  Zach donned a serious expression. “It is said to be a curse of sorts brought on by the first of your kind.”

  I stood up and started pacing. I was so confused. It certainly felt like a curse to me. “What do you mean — brought on?”

  He frowned. “Faine was the first human to ever have direct contact with the fae. They had been forbidden to have any physical interaction with the children of men. That was until a nineteen-year-old girl stumbled into the fae realm.”

  I gasped. “How did she do that?”

  “She was a seer. Fae glamour didn’t work on her. She followed a lord into the borderlands that house a few of the lesser fae.

  “For some reason, the normal wards did not repel her. When the lord discovered her, he took her to the fae counsel. They petitioned for a meeting with the creator. He sent a messenger in his stead. You might have heard of him.” He smiled but didn’t go any further.

  I was too impatient to wait for him to finish his guessing game. “Who was it?”

  “Gabriel.”

  I smirked. “The archangel?”

  Zach leaned up against the door. “I know it’s a lot to handle, but you asked. I can stop if you don’t believe me.”

  I gave him a sheepish expression. “I’m sorry. Go on.”

  He nodded. “Gabriel told the woman she was never intended to see the fae. He instructed her to go back to the human realm. She protested, claiming there had to be an explanation for her vision. She reasoned that God must have had a higher purpose for her.”

  I grunted. I couldn’t believe that a girl my age had started this hell all because of curiosity. When I got to heaven, I was going to have more than words with the stupid chick that did this to me. She should have left with the angel. She should never have gone where she shouldn’t have been. “She should have said thank you very much and got the heck out of there.”

  He smiled gravely. “It would have saved heartache on both sides.”

  I had never considered how a fae would feel about this whole situation. Did they even like Elementals? Could they love? Did they regret having to return an Elemental to the human realm when the bond fizzled out? Did they have the same emotions as humans? Had I judged them unfairly? “Grace mentioned the lords want me for my power.” I was suddenly feeling munchy, so I grabbed a handful of candy. I plopped a couple into my mouth. “Do you know how that works?”

  Zach cleared his throat. I offered him a few.

  His eyes widened. He spoke in a rush. “Where did you get these?”

  “They’re Cassie’s.” It came out slurred. I swallowed a mouthful of sugary saliva, preparing to say it again in case he hadn’t understood me. He moved so fast I hardly had time to react. The candy went flying out of my hand. “Hey!”

  He started fishing what was left out of my mouth. I bit down. “Ow,” he yelped. He inspected his damaged digit and glared at me.

  “Serves you right.” I held up a finger. It wasn’t the one I really wanted to give him. “Never, ever get in between a girl and her candy.”

  His face was ashen as he held his hand under my chin. “Spit it out.” His chest was rising and falling rapidly.

  I did as commanded, but I didn’t like it. That candy was blissful. “You’d better start explaining, or get the heck out of here.” I said after a few moments of silence.

  He grabbed the candy bowl and disappeared into the restroom. The toilet flushed. I raced to the door.

  “Why did you do that?”

  His eyes were hooded. “It’s fae.”

  Okay, that didn’t sound so good, but … oh, who was I trying to kid. I was screwed. “So?”

  “There are severe consequences for eating fae delicacies outside of Faeresia. The council will never agree to let you stay in the human realm now.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He grabbed my shoulders, staring directly into my eyes. “Rayla, you’ve been fae-nipped.”

  I groaned. “I’d love to say I know what that means, but I am sort of new to this.”

  He shook his head. “Let’s just hope you haven’t digested enough of the bloody stuff to change you.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “I refuse to live my life worrying about everything I put in my mouth.”

  His gaze fell to my lips. His expression sent a bolt of heat through my body. I looked away when he smiled wolfishly.

  “Tell me you haven’t had any more of them,” he said.

  I shrugged. He brought his face inches from mine.

  “How many?”

  I tried to pull away, but it did no good. “Only one.”

  His grip tightened. “How long ago?”

  “I think it was this morning.”

  “You think!”

  There was the problem. I couldn’t at the moment. My stomach growled like a pack of coyotes fighting for fresh meat. “Let’s talk about this later. I’m hungry.”

  He sighed. The look he gave me was anything but comforting. “Okay, love. I know a great place for burgers.”

  My mouth watered at the thought. “Sounds fantastic.” I smiled at him and grabbed my jacket. “I don’t think I have ever been this hungry before.”

  His expression was grim. “I sincerely doubt it.”

  “Hu
h?”

  “Never mind. Let’s go.”

  By the time we got to the diner, I was famished. It was one of those old time drive-ins with carhops and speakers that look like the grille of a sports car. I ordered two cheeseburgers, fries, and a shake. I wanted to rip into my food the moment the waitress brought it to us, but Zach insisted we go back to the dorm.

  I impatiently waited for him to hand me my first burger. He put the straw into the shake. I yanked it away from him. My sense of smell was heightened. The mixture of savory and sweet was heady. I didn’t remember much after the first bite. When I finally finished, I looked over at Zach.

  He gave me a wary smile and handed me a napkin. “I would like to say that seeing you devour that much food in less than two minutes was hot, but no. I could do without ever witnessing it again.”

  I ignored his disgusted expression. “Are you going to finish yours?” I asked, wiping ketchup from my chin.

  He got out of the way. By the time I finished the second large fry, I was feeling a little better.

  “What’s wrong with me?” I said around a gulp of chocolate then, I turned my attention to the last of Zach’s burger.

  He looked sad. “Mortal food will never satisfy you again.”

  I stopped mid-bite. “Like in ever?”

  He moved to the window. “I should have warned you about trolls last night, when you mentioned you had one, but I thought I could get rid of him before he did any harm.”

  And here I thought the thing sounded sort of cute. “What does this have to do with trolls?”

  He rested his arm on the window frame, gazing out the glass. “They’re horrible creatures. They will serve whoever has the most coin.”

  I brightened at my current thought. “Cassie has never acted like this, and she’s eaten fae food.”

  “What?” He whirled around. “When?”

  “A long time ago. A brownie took Cassie to her home —”

  He waved a dismissive hand, pacing in front of me. “That’s different. Fae food eaten in the otherworld is harmless. When it is consumed in the human realm, it has disastrous consequences.”

  My thoughts were swirling. Had the troll left the candy for Cassie or me? “Why would a troll want me to eat fae food?”

  “Forget about him.” His voice was clipped with barely controlled furor. “You need to worry about whoever hired him. Eventually, you will be so uncomfortable you’ll beg one of the lords to take you.”

  “Oh, fantastic. Could things get any worse?”

  He held a wry expression when he faced me. “You think?”

  “How am I supposed to avoid fae traps if I don’t even know they exist?”

  A light rapping erupted at the door. Natalie waited on the other side. She looked worried. Even her freckles were two shades paler. She kept glancing down the hall as though she expected something sinister to round the corner.

  “Hey, Rayla,” she said, sailing past me. She plopped onto my bed. “Do you mind if I crash here?”

  I immediately loved the idea. I had been dreading spending the night in my room without Cassie again. “Sure. Is something wrong?”

  “I’d just prefer a certain guy not know where I am tonight.”

  “Are you and Sam fighting?”

  One corner of her mouth shot up in a lopsided smile, but it didn’t touch her eyes. “Something like that.”

  I got the impression she didn’t want to say anything until Zach was gone. As if on cue, he rose from the couch and kissed me lightly on the cheek.

  He was to the door before I could say anything. Why was he in such a hurry to leave me?

  “It’s nice to see you again, Natalie. I’ll be here later to take you to work, Rayla.” The pictures on the wall shook when the door thudded closed.

  “I’m sorry if I ruined your time with him,” said Natalie softly.

  I was fighting the urge to drop to the floor. I needed that candy. I was just glad Zach hadn’t thought to flush the rest of them down the toilet. “What’s going on?” I asked distractedly.

  Her look was tortured. “Have you ever thought you knew someone and realized later you had no clue who you fell in love with?”

  I spotted a piece of candy by the sofa. How was I going to get to it without Natalie seeing? “Kind of.”

  “I trusted him.” She rolled quickly onto her side cupping her head in her hand. The bunk-bed squeaked in protest from her jerky movements. “I shouldn’t get you involved in this, but I have to tell somebody.”

  Having her problems to mull over sounded quite refreshing. “I don’t mind.”

  Her features constricted. She played with the buttons on the underside of Cassie’s mattress. “I’m in big trouble, and I can’t get a hold of my normal resources. It’s like my calls are being blocked or something.”

  I knew the feeling, but what did Natalie have to do with the fae? “Go on.”

  “Here, I thought I had finally found someone close to the inside, but not part of it. They’ve told him to kill me. Can you believe it?”

  I was so confused. “Hang on. You’re talking about Sam, right?” She couldn’t be. I couldn’t imagine Sam offing anyone, let alone her.

  “Yeah, the Judas. I thought he loved me. Man, have I been stupid!”

  I walked over to the couch and sat on the floor in front of the succulent morsel begging me to eat it. “Why would someone order Sam to kill you?”

  She smiled arrogantly, as though proud of having a price on her head. “Are you sure you want to know all of this. It’s complicated. ”

  I shouldn’t have felt a small sort of satisfaction at knowing I wasn’t the only one with an absurd life. It wasn’t like I could be in more danger than I already was. “Of course.”

  She smirked. “So, I’m undercover. I can’t believe I actually signed up for this crap. You’d think I would have had enough of college the first time around.”

  I sat there, slack-jawed. I hugged my knees. What was she saying? “If you aren’t a student, what are you?”

  “A journalist. I’ve been freelancing for a few years, trying to break into the biz. I stumbled across this story a year ago. It’s a lot harder to create a fake identity than I thought it would be.”

  I rubbed my temples. “Okay, I’m going to pretend you haven’t totally lost it for a few minutes. What is it you’ve been working on?”

  She sat up, brushing her curls out of her face. “Do you have all night?”

  Not really. But I was interested. I had a few hours until I had to be to work. I wasn’t sure if I should go, but it was too late to call in sick now. Besides, it was too public a place for the lords to get to me. I shrugged.

  “My brother graduated from Notre Dame last year. Secret groups exist within the college I doubt the administration knows about. One of them recruits wealthy men into the New World Order.”

  A chill ran up my spine. I had always thought conspiracy theory was ridiculous. I wasn’t so sure anymore. “I —”

  She held up a hand. “I’d appreciate it if you’d let me get this all out before you pass judgment.”

  She was expecting quite a bit. There had to be normalcy in the world somewhere. I had assumed so much. I wouldn’t anymore. “Go on.”

  “This is an ancient society, Rayla. It has been known as many things throughout history: The Illuminate is probably the most recognizable. It doesn’t matter what they call themselves; it’s still the same organization. And it’s always exclusively male. The members are always wealthy beyond imagination and extremely powerful. They control what happens in the world more than any of us would like to admit.”

  My fingers slid over the round, hard surface of the candy. How was I going to get it into my mouth without having to offer her one? What if she saw me pick it up? “So what does this group have to do with Sam? I didn’t think he was that rich.”

  Her emerald gaze was livid. “They look for men who come from affluent families. They seem to target second sons who are ambitious to a fau
lt. You don’t know how many times I’ve heard Sam complain his older brother has everything. Sam was recruited by the biggest fish in the area.”

  A thought hit me. “Let me guess: Roger Wayne.”

  “You are more observant than I thought you’d be. He’s the worst of the worst of humanity. Anyway, before I met Sam, I was told he had spent the summer in the Caribbean with Roger. I wanted to have a way into the Wayne estate, so I targeted Sam when my attempts at Roger failed. I wasn’t disappointed. I was in the next weekend. Every time we go there, I try to find something incriminating. But I haven’t been able to locate anything useful. I never expected I would fall in love with Sam. It was supposed to be a job. Nothing more.”

  The candy was calling to me. I looked longingly at my closed fist then, shut my eyes tight. How was I going to deal with my sudden obsession? “So has Sam tried to kill you, or did he just come out and tell you he was going to?”

  She shook her head. “I went to see him earlier. He wasn’t expecting me. I was ready to knock on his door when I heard him shouting at someone. Even though there was no need, I put my ear to the wood. I could have heard him down the hallway with the way he was yelling. To be fair, he refused to do it until Roger threatened his mother.”

  I gasped. I had pegged Roger as unsavory, but that was too light a term to describe how vile he really was. I was suddenly grateful Cassie was on her way back home.

  A loud banging started at the door. Before I could motion for her to do it, Natalie was under my bed.

  “Rayla, are you in there?” Sam called out excitedly.

  I hurried into the bathroom and flushed the toilet. I shoved the piece of candy into my pocket for later. Before I cracked the door open, I turned on my SoundDock. I tried to look really tired, peaking through the door with heavy-lidded eyes. “Sam?”

  He pushed right past me, heading for the bathroom. He threw the shower curtain open. He looked as though he was hyperventilating. “Where is she?”

  “Natalie?” His contemptuous look halted the rest of what I had planned to say. “What’s wrong?”

  He paced the room like a caged animal. Panic dominated his expression. “I have to find her. It’s a matter of life or death.”