by L M Lacee
CHAPTER EIGHT:
O n Saturday Frankie kept Harper so busy shopping for a new phone and computer and trying Madam Tessa’s tea shop, then having lunch with an excited Kelsey, who had been flying with her father. There was no time to visit her barn.
Harper suffered the hugs and compliments, when she, at Frankie’s nagging, gave Charlie the statue she made for her of their mother and them. Harper was positive she saw tears in her sister’s eyes, it was unnerving. Which she made sure she told Frankie, who it seemed, did not see the problem with tears. She was all about the love of sisters or something. Harper tuned her out.
Although she loved talking to Storm he was so blunt it was funny, especially when she, Storm and Johner played a virtual fighting game and he became like every other person who hated to lose and loved beating the hell out of his opponent. Their father’s enthusiasm for these games and his language, so different from the normally calm male they were used to while playing, fascinated Kelsey and Cara whose attention was divided between her father and Frankie.
Cara and Frankie had instantly bonded with each other in the first few seconds of Frankie entering the apartment. Secretly Harper thought it was like meeting like, and when Charlie became annoying with the sniffing back of tears each time she looked at the statue, Harper being the sister she was, she felt that it was her duty to tell Charlie of her suspicions and then watched with amusement as Charlie tried to be diplomatic when asking Frankie about the way she looked at life as the horror of the full import of having a daughter like Frankie, hit her.
They left the family late in the afternoon and by then Frankie was in the talking mood so they spent the remainder of the day while Johner worked discussing plans for each of them to find work. Johner finally came and collected a happy contented Frankie after dinner leaving a just as contented Harper to herself. She slept well again that night secure in the knowledge her world was better than it had been for a long time.
The following morning she rolled from bed and looked out the window at her completed barn she could actually feel the excitement bubbling up, knowing it was for her and hoped to have time today to explore it and set it to rights. She sighed as she walked to the shower. Sunday family day!
Whoever heard of such a thing? And yet she knew she would attend because Frankie, Charlie and now Edith would expect her too. Frankie arrived with Johner to go with her to the dining room.
Harper couldn’t get passed the idea that they thought, she would have ducked out of the coming day which was absurd couldn’t they tell Verity Kingsley terrified her. Defying her would take more guts than Harper possessed.
Harper along with Frankie were met with gentle love that enfolded Frankie and she in what was fast becoming their family. Thankfully the spot light was taken off them during breakfast when Reighn announced Sage was pregnant, which was glad tidings but what seem to astound the dragons more was that they were to have twins. Those that were not dragon grinned and shrugged much as Sage did. To them it was not unheard of for shifters to have twins or more. For the dragons the miracle of her being with child, was in of itself magical, but for them to be having twins just sent them into raptures.
A little before lunch time Harper snuck out of the family lounge where everybody who was considered family attended. She was positive she had spoken to all of them if not once at least twice or more. It was the young ones who dominated her time really. Kelsey and Cara decided as she was their direct aunt she was their toy to be dragged from one end of the room to the other to witness everything. Toys, games, unicorns and when they were not hanging around her with Kammy, Molly and Ava. The adults were no better filling her arms with babies at every opportunity. Although she did sort of like that, the kids amused her especially with their unasked for observations and the babies they just made her heart hurt, with some unknown emotion.
She needed a minute or two or half an hour maybe, to go visit her barn and collect herself, to ease the pain her heart was feeling. So when she felt she would not be missed, she slid out of the room hoping no one noticed. Unfortunately in that she was mistaken. Charlie watched her walk from the room. Reighn nudged her shoulder. “She left!”
“Yep she did.” Charlie replied. Frankie sighed as she joined them. “She needs a minute or three, this is a lot for her.”
“Not for you though?” Charlie asked.
“Nah, me I’m just loving the atmosphere.” She told them as she smiled broadly and looked around at all the family.
“Again I say you are an inordinately cheerful person.” Reighn told her. Frankie nodded as she sipped her shake. “A rainbow of delights, Johner calls me.” Which made him and Charlie laugh. Kelsey ran over followed by Molly and Kammy. “Aunty Frankie, where is Aunty Harper?”
“She went to her barn sweetie.” At her downcast look she told her. “She will be back soon.”
Charlie said, “I will go get her later if she doesn’t return.”
“Oh okay.” Kelsey sighed no one could miss the tragic face she blessed them with or the fact Kammy was trying to copy her. “So little one, ready for school tomorrow?” Reighn asked. Kelsey smiled. “I am uncle Reighn.” Kelsey had come in for a lot of attention and not just from Reighn and Frankie as she was going to her first day of school the following day. It was very exciting for all her family. Although Storm was not pleased as he once again voiced his objections when he came and swung her and Kammy up into his arms. “Why can she not be schooled at home, how am I to keep her safe if she is not home?”
Charlie said again and if her tone had hint of exasperation in it, no one blamed her for it. “She needs to go to school to learn and make friends.”
A sentiment Storm glowered at and then with a grunt he then carried a giggling Kelsey and Kammy to his brothers. While Charlie watched her daughters giggle with delight, Frankie said quietly “She will be alright, for Harper this is a big deal. She needs more to do, if she is idle for too long she gets lost in her head.”
“So I need to find work for her?”
Frankie asked. “Don’t you already have the ideal job lined up?”
“You are a little scary!”
Frankie then laughed. “Only a little! I am slipping.” Then she strolled away as Charlie looked at Reighn who stared after Frankie.
She said. “So okay then.”
He nodded. “Yep!”
Harper had entered her barn which seemed like hours ago, she walked the entire place marked out on the wall where it could be cut out and expanded to include a class room for Edith’s students. She decided to use a small room for a paint/play room for the little ones, then walked up the stairs to the loft and found a one bedroom apartment and sighed in pleasure as she looked around at the open planned kitchen, dining and lounge space.
She could live here, Frankie had more or less moved in with Johner so with a sense of happiness, she spent time calling furniture to the apartment from her storage locker in New York. As she moved around the apartment she even took the bedroom set from the apartment she was staying in at the moment, as well as all her clothes and bits and pieces she had there. She loved that big bed she was sleeping in currently.
When Harper had not returned and Verity called out there was only thirty minutes until dinner Charlie left to go and get her. Harper had finally walked back down to the main floor of her barn and started using her magic once again to call her equipment.
Charlie stood shocked as she looked around her, she had imagined an empty wooden shell like all barns, not this elaborate building. The floors were warm and made from wood with red and golden tones, she bet they had a preservation spell on them, courtesy of Sage. The walls were all lined in wood panels painted a nice soft white. There were lovely hanging chandeliers which were turned off as the dozen or so of skylights allowed the early evening light to flood in, lighting the whole place up. It was surely an artist dream studio.
She stood and watched as tool boxes and large covered things which she assumed were machines of some kind a
ppeared. “You seem to have a really good understanding of your magic.” She told Harper as she moved further into the barn with baby Justice. Harper nodded and turned towards her. “More so recently. I am assuming that has to do with the Elementals arriving back on earth or it is just all the magic flying around here.”
Charlie grinned as she moved to stand beside her. The place was larger than she had first thought, she could see a small kitchen and a small lounge area towards the back of the barn with also what looked like a large glassed in office.
“There is a whole apartment up there.” Harper told her as she pointed to the loft at the end of the barn.
“Are you going to live here?”
“Well yeah, Frankie has more or less moved in with Johner.”
“That makes sense, it is lovely.”
Harper swung around in a circle with her arms spread wide. “I know. Not what we would call a barn?”
“No it is what dragons would though!”
“Yep.” As Harper came to a stop, she looked at a wall lined with shelves and instantly tools of all descriptions filled the shelves and wall. On the other side were even more shelves that were suddenly filled with different size boxes and underneath was a counter with a stool on wheels. Obviously a work area. Suddenly in the middle of the floor a large oblong stone that almost reached the rafters appeared.
“Wow that is huge what will you make out of it.”
“I have no idea.” Harper said as she caressed the marble. “Whatever speaks to me I guess.”
“That is how your art works?”
“Yes I will seek what it wants to tell me, then shape it to that.”
“I see.”
“Well after all that is what my talent is, seeking! Has yours increased?”
“My talent for manipulation and being able to remove all traces of myself? Yes, plus my desire to administer justice? Even more so since I arrived here.”
Harper looked at her. “I heard about the faerie. You did right, in case you were wondering if I agreed or not.”
“Honestly, the gossips and I knew when I did it you would have agreed. I suppose that is another reason for you to dislike the faeries?”
Harper sighed. “Give me time Charlie. Big things are happening here. I am coping as well as I can.”
“Okay I get that.” Was all Charlie said as Harper took the baby from her arms and cradled him in hers. She looked down into the face of sweetness.
Charlie looked at the picture, her sister who was so much like her and yet so different, made with her son and told her. “I was never as brave as you.”
“Huh brave!” Harper looked at Charlie. “Or foolhardy?”
“No you were never that, rash at times but not a fool.”
Harper shrugged and walked around her barn with the baby in her arms as she told Charlie. “I thought you were alive. I thought I saw you once in a town about six years ago. You looked normal, laughing, talking to people.” She heard Charlie draw in a breath and quickly said. “I don’t know if it really was you but I was not making good choices back then. I got angry. I have a darkness within me, it made that hole your Kelsey talked about.” She whispered as she admitted. “It took me years to master it, to control my reactions to it. When I thought I saw you that day and now I see you I believe it was not you but it was someone who looked enough like you that I spiralled out of control. It was a bad time for me.” She flicked her eyes towards Charlie and saw her staring at her but could not read what she was thinking. She sucked in her bottom lip for second or two then said. “I spent months fighting it, fighting the battle to kill. It is a terrible compulsion that comes over me.”
She shook her head and looked once more into the hatchlings face and sighed as she said. “Then I met Frankie!” Harper closed her eyes. “For not walking up and finding out if it was you that day. I am sorry, it was childish and hurtful of me. I have no excuse.” She looked at Charlie from the corner of her eyes who was staring out at the sky, anger pulsed from her as she thought about what Harper had revealed she dismissed the sighting. It may have or may not have been her, who cared! What she was angry at was Harper keeping her condition a secret from her. She demanded to know. “Was it from that night?”
Harper nodded as she closed her eyes for a minute as she told her. “Yeah demons and shades they left a mark.”
Charlie asked knowing the answer already but needing confirmation. “I do not have that in me?”
Softly Harper said. “No Charlie, not in you.”
Anger swallowed Charlie whole, it had not been long after that night of terror that Harper made her leave home. My soul do you need me? Storm asked through their bond.
No my love, I am alright.
I am but a thought away.
Thank you. She knew he monitored and waited for her to call him. She wanted to scream, then scream some more and then tear into Harper, shred her to bits. How dare she? How could she? She turned to do just that when she looked at her sister standing there waiting for her scorn for her rage. She believed she deserved it and suddenly the anger just vanished, they had all been victims back then and some still were. Harper carried such a large burden, what in truth could she say other than she loved her.
“Ahh! Harper who the hell cares, it was so long ago, we are different. I am not angry, I cannot be and it is a waste of energy. I refuse to be like that, you are here with me in my life, with my young. I just don’t want to care about the past anymore. It won’t change what happened, what I did, what you did, what they did. All I want is here. I love you, have done forever, and will do so forever. So screw the rest.”
Harper walked over to her and passed the baby back to his mother and placed her hand over Charlie’s heart. “You were always smarter than me and wiser. Give me time I am getting there, I swear I will work hard to be what you want. What I want to be. I have loved you, always will.”
Charlie asked her. “What do you want to be?”
“Whole, loved, at peace.”
“Okay Harper you are loved, the other two we will work on together.”
“Yeah we can do that. So is it dinner time?”
“Yes we came to remind you.” Together they looked down at the sleeping baby.
“He is a sweet little dragon.”
“We think so.”
Charlie wondered as they walked to the castle what the conversation revealed. Harper had issues and not the easy to fix ones but she was in her life and staying, again Harper reached out to her. In some respects she was so much braver than Charlie, in others so much dumber. At least she was willing to work and hopefully rid herself of this darkness, once they cleared up that problem, things would get easier, she hoped. Frankie said Harper needed to be busy that she got into all sorts of trouble when she was idle, that boded ill for Dragon’s Gap. Well okay not that exactly but it was implied! Charlie worried as she imagined the terrible trouble Harper could reap on Dragon’s Gap. She hoped the job she was going to offer her would help.
She and Harper entered the family room for dinner just as Frankie said to Sage and June. “We need to work, both Harper and I are not used to doing nothing, what work can we find to do?”
“Doesn’t her art qualify?” Sage asked her. Frankie grinned. “Nope she can only do so much of that until she wants to bludgeon someone to death with a pick or saw. So work?” They all looked at Harper who shrugged. “True!”
Charlie looked at her sister. “I could use Harper if she wants to use her other skills that is?”
“What do you do?”
Sage said. “Charlie and I run, or more Charlie now, actually runs rescues, we retrieve those that need rescuing and bring them here to Dragon’s Gap, to keep them safe.” In a few sentences Sage explained the procedure and why they did so, Harper nodded. “I am in!”
They all moved toward the balcony overlooking the unicorn meadow. Reighn asked as he joined them handing around drinks. “What is it you do Frankie?”
She grinned. “I am an organiz
ing fiend, it is in my blood.”
“What blood would that be.” asked June.
“I am half brownie, my mother was brownie, and my father was something else.”
June gasped. “I don’t understand aren’t brownies like three inches high or something?”
“That she worries about, not the other thing?” Edith said. Harper grinned as she sipped her beer.
Frankie laughed. “No that is fable, they were or are normal sized.”
Sage said. “Is that why you could dissolve my magic?”
Frankie shrugged. “Maybe, what I am is non magical, I am a…. What did the guy call me?” She tapped her chin. “Oh yes a null... Yes a null! See I can cancel magic, apparently it is a magic all of its own.”
“I do not think I have ever heard of a null person before.” Said a mystified Sage as she looked at Frankie. Edith said. “What am I then?”
“A bear that cannot shift!” June called out.
“A grounder is something entirely different.” Reighn told them.
“Exactly a null!” Edith stated.
Sage told her. “No it is so not the same.”
Edith scratched her neck. “How is it not?”
“She is a possible witch.” Sage explained.
“Half witch maybe!” Frankie butted in.
Sage shrugged. “Maybe half witch you Edee are all bear.”
“Still can’t shift… null?”
“Shut up!”
“So rude.” Edith said to Harper who grinned and replied. “Yep!”
“It is a specialized magic.” Rene` said as he too joined them. “Not many survive until adulthood.”
