Woodland Fae: The World of Fae, Book 10

by Terry Spear

  "All right, then. So why don't you try that out." Letta had never considered the possibility that Hannah just hadn't liked the work she'd been assigned to do, but that given the chance to do something she liked, she might be more hardworking. Or not. Time would tell.

  Simon said, "If you're ready to go with the others to the pet store, it's time."

  "And we need to pick out costumes too," Letta said, eager to do Halloween this year. She wondered just how many of the pack members would end up going with them. But she thought Gia's brothers shouldn't be able to participate. No sense in having to carry them around to the human world after what they pulled.

  WHEN THEY MET up with Ena and Brett, Ena didn’t seem particularly pleased to see Hannah, but Simon was glad that Letta had been willing to talk to the willful woman and maybe learn why she was the way she was.

  “We’re going to pick out costumes too and go trick-or-treating,” Letta said, sounding so eager, Simon knew that’s why he loved her.

  Trick-or-treating, playing fae games, it just wasn’t something he or his kind usually did. But he would throw it open to anyone in the pack who wanted to go with them.

  “Oh, my, now that sounds like fun.” Ena glanced at Brett to see his take on it.

  As far as Simon knew, Ena was a real workaholic, and playing, unless it earned her treasure, wasn’t something she usually did.

  “It’s up to you, honey,” Brett said. “We can put off our vacation until after Halloween. But won’t we be a little old?”

  “Glamor will do the trick,” Ena said.

  “And we might even find a Halloween party to go to that we can crash where we won’t have to hide our ages,” Letta said.

  “Who all is going?” Ena asked.

  “Everyone from the pack who wants to,” Simon said. “Except for Gia’s brothers. They’re not returning to the human world until they have their fae transporting abilities back.” There wasn’t any reason to give them a free ride.

  “Okay. Are we going together?” Ena asked, looking pleased. Then she smiled. “You probably didn’t expect me to say I’d go. I’ve never done it before, but I have the Gothic girl look down pat, and I’m ready. Instead of gold and baubles, we’ll just get lots of treats.”

  “We can go as dragon slayers…uhm”—Mark’s cheeks reddened—“forget I said that. We can go as dragon tamers—”

  Bryan laughed. “We used to play Dragons and Dungeons’ games. Mark, stop talking while you’re behind.”

  “I will go as a mighty wizard,” Brett said.

  “You’re supposed to dress up as something you aren’t normally,” Letta said, laughing. “I’ll be a fairy princess.”

  Simon smiled at her. “You are a fairy princess.”

  “No,” Mark said. “Get outta here.”

  “Her grandfather is the king of the scorpion fae.”

  “Well, there’s more to you than meets the eye,” Ena said.

  “But wolves don’t have titles, so I don’t need it.”

  “I would sure love to be a princess,” Hannah said.

  Ena rolled her eyes, and Simon suspected the way she’d acted at her castle and not doing any work made it appear Hannah thought she was already a princess.

  “Everyone ready to go? Puppies here we come,” Ena said.

  22

  At the pet store, Brett told Ena they needed to get the same breed of dogs that they already had brought home, or the queen could throw a fit.

  Simon was letting Letta pick out the breed of dog she wanted. She was looking at puppies that were of a larger breed. Great Danes and Irish wolfhounds. “Wolfhounds,” she said. “They were used to take down wolves in the human world, but ours will be part of the pack.”

  “Wolfhounds it is.” He was thinking of two males, but when she got a male and female, he suspected what she was up to. Especially once she learned they were not from the same litter.

  “We can raise them and sell off their puppies to others who would like to have one.”

  “Unless you can’t part with them,” Simon said.

  Letta smiled up at him. “Well, then we can only sell them to pack members so they’re close by.”

  Mark and Bryan shook their heads. “That means bigger bedding, bigger chew toys, bigger everything,” Bryan said.

  Hannah was playing with the puppies in a pen.

  “Something seems to have changed with her,” Ena said privately to Simon.

  “I believe we’ve come to an understanding. And she’s going to stay with the pack.” Simon folded his arms, watching the woman. Then he stared at her aura. “What…the…”

  “Her…her aura changed,” Ena said.

  Brett glanced at Letta who was picking out the color of bedding she wanted for the puppies. Her aura. Silvery green. The same as Hannah’s now.

  “What just happened?” Brett asked.

  “It appears Hannah’s parents were two different fae kind. A wolf and a—” Simon said.

  “Scorpion fae,” Ena said. “You’re really going to have your hands full with that, if she’s a magic user like Letta is.”

  Simon sighed. Now they were really stuck with Hannah no matter what. Maybe that’s why she was so warlike—one of the scorpion fae, only she had just now come into her actual abilities. Letta would have to train her how to deal with them, if she was a magic user like her.

  Letta had one of the puppies in her arms as she joined him and Ena and Brett and saw their worried expressions. “What?”

  “Your aura and Hannah’s are the same now. She had the same wolf aura as the rest of the wolves before this,” Simon said.

  Letta turned around to look at Hannah. “Oh. My. God.” Letta’s mouth gaped. The puppy licked her cheek.

  “Yeah, will she have any magical abilities?” Simon asked. It could be a blessing or more trouble than they could handle.

  “Yeah, and how. Okay, then she’s not sheering sheep. She’ll have to be my apprentice until she can control her magic skills.”

  “I think it might be time to leave, just in case,” Ena warned.

  “Uh, yeah, I agree.” Letta cuddled her puppy. “Mark and Bryan’s hands are full. You need to get your puppy, Simon.”

  He’d never raised a pet before. He smiled and took the other one she had picked out.

  And then they were off with their furry bundles of joy and all the stuff they needed to take with them as if the puppies were royalty themselves.

  Once Simon and the rest of his wolves had returned to the pack territory, the dragons having gone home with Jacob and the queen’s pups, Letta had to speak with Hannah.

  “Come on,” Simon said, ushering them into the cottage.

  Mark and Bryan came also, loaded down with puppy beds and all the rest.

  “The two of you have puppy detail,” Simon said to Mark and Bryan. “Why don’t you take them outside and show them where to potty.”

  “Yeah, sure thing,” Mark said, taking the female from Letta and Bryan took the male from Simon and headed outside.

  Hannah had set up the puppy’s bed near a fireplace, and their dishes near the kitchen and filled their water bowl.

  “Hannah, we need to talk,” Letta said gently.

  “My aura looks like yours now.” Hannah appeared not to know what to think of it.

  “I’m sorry that your abilities are changing again. And it’ll mean you’ll have to learn to control them.”

  “I’m…I’m one of you, the scorpion fae?”

  “It appears that way.”

  Hannah’s eyes widened. “The magic? Will I have magic?”

  “Yes. But like me, you'll have to practice using spells for them to really be powerful or useful.”

  Simon grabbed Hannah’s arm, her face had turned so pale and he was afraid she was going to collapse. He led her to the living area and helped her to sit.

  “I’ll help you to control your spells, but you can only use them for doing good.”

  “Unless someone’s trying to kill me
, like what happened with Gia,” Hannah said, but she sounded like she was asking, not really telling Letta what she would do if she was faced with such a situation.

  “For defensive purposes. Yes.”

  “Will Mark and Bryan turn into a scorpion fae?” Hannah asked, rubbing her forehead in bewilderment.

  “Only if one of their true parents was one, which must be the case with you. And it may mean that you might even be related to me.”

  Hannah brightened. “A princess?”

  Letta rolled her eyes this time.

  Simon smiled at Letta’s reaction. But what if Hannah was related to Letta and a princess? He could see living with her could be insufferable. Or, if she belonged with the scorpion fae, maybe the king could tutor her for a while, and knock some sense into her. Though Letta had said that once she came of age, she had to leave. But maybe, due to the circumstances, the king would take Hannah in until she had her magic under control.

  “Should we take her to see your grandfather?” Simon asked Letta.

  “Yeah. That was my very thought. You seem to have your wolf under control, Hannah,” Letta said. “We need to get your magic under control, and we can learn what my grandfather might know about you and your family.”

  Wringing her hands, Hannah seemed anxious.

  Letta smiled. “He appears to be a young boy, but he’s ancient. I’m sure he’ll like you.”

  “You’re…you’re going to leave me there?”

  “You couldn’t have a better and more patient teacher than the king.”

  “But…I won’t be coming back here?” Hannah had tears in her eyes and looked overwhelmed with grief, like this was the story of her life as she was pawned off on yet another “foster” family.

  “You’ll be returning to us. If you ever want to find a mate. When we come of age, we leave our kind behind. But you have a home with us. Always. You just have to work hard to prove you have the magic under control. You can live with us when you have some control and I’ll work on it with you. You can return to see him later to learn more advanced skills.”

  “What…what about Halloween?”

  “You…might not be ready by then to safely visit the human world.”

  Hannah looked crestfallen.

  Letta took her hand and pulled her up from the couch, then gave her a hug. “We can do it again next year and every year thereafter until you’re tired of doing it. We can play April Fool’s jokes on humans before then. You just have to learn your skills, so you don’t hurt anyone, fae, humans, the puppies even. It takes years of practice to get as good as me, but you’ll be able to have some control once my grandfather and I teach you how to control your spells.”

  Mark and Bryan were laughing outside, then both came in with the puppies. “No leashes for them. That’s something we’ll have to get them used to.”

  “We have a mission,” Simon said. “So the puppies are in your care until we return.”

  “Hannah’s too?” Bryan asked.

  “She’s going with us.”

  Both Mark and Bryan frowned at them, as if suspecting they were getting rid of Hannah.

  “You might have noticed her fae aura is now the same as Letta’s,” Simon said.

  They both looked at one another and then at the ladies. Their eyes rounded. “Hannah’s a magic user?” Bryan asked.

  “Half scorpion fae, and yes,” Simon said. “We’re taking her to see Letta’s grandfather to learn if he’ll teach her some skills to control her magic.”

  “Oh, wow,” Mark said. “Okay. We’ll take care of the puppies.”

  “We’ll name them when we return,” Simon said. “We need to do this at once, before anything untoward happens.”

  LETTA HOPED her grandfather would take Hannah in to teach her the rudimentary skills to control her magic. She thought he was the best person for the job, but she worried that he’d be angry when he met the woman who had bitten her and turned her too. Still, Letta thought this might be best for everyone. And what if her brother and she had a sister they didn’t know about? Though she didn’t want Hannah to let it go to her head if they learned she was a princess too.

  When they arrived, Letta wondered what the king might have done with the fae seers. She smiled when her boy-like grandfather spied them in the scorpion fae’s woods.

  “Back so soon. Not another fae seer—” The king abruptly stopped speaking. “She is the lost one.” Then he frowned. “A wolf too?” He tilted his chin up. “The one who bit and turned you.”

  He was wiser than anyone Letta had ever known.

  “Hannah just came into her scorpion fae abilities. I was hoping you might teach her some of the rudiments of controlling her magic, like you did for me when I was younger.”

  He let out his breath and nodded. “You will have jobs to do also, Hannah.”

  “I want to go with them to trick-or-treat,” Hannah blurted out, as if nothing else was important.

  “She never got to go when she was little,” Letta explained.

  “She has to have some control over her magic before she can go anywhere,” the king said sternly. “However, if she works hard and shows me that she can control it, well, we’ll see.”

  “You said she was the lost one. What did you mean by that?” Simon asked.

  “Her mother was with a wolf pack and she fell in love with a scorpion fae. No one in their right mind would marry a scorpion fae. We’re just too warlike for our own good. But she loved him and he loved her and they were together long enough to have a baby girl. Her pack kicked her out, and we took them in, but during the wars between scorpion fae clans, Hannah’s father died, and since Carmel wasn’t a scorpion fae and she couldn’t return to her pack, she just disappeared. We tried to locate her because the baby was half scorpion fae, but we were so busy fighting our own battles, we lost them for good. Until now, it seems.” He gave Hannah a small smile. Then to Letta and Simon, he said, “Leave her with us. We’ll take good care of her and you can visit us whenever you have the time.”

  Hannah looked so disappointed, like the fae magic didn’t mean anything to her, only being with them to trick-or-treat did.

  Letta gave her a hug. “We’ll be back for you. Don’t you worry.”

  “We will,” Simon agreed.

  “Come, Hannah. The sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll have you back with the wolf pack. Don’t worry. I’m not keeping you here permanently. As you can see, all the ones I lead here are…underage, but you. I’ll make an exception for you. No more foster homes for you.” Then he frowned. “Not that I can’t handle it, but…you do have your shifting under control, don’t you?”

  Letta suspected her grandfather worried that Hannah might turn all of his charges into wolves. She smiled and gave her grandfather a hug and kiss. When the kids got older, he would lose the glamor and show them how old he truly was, so they’d mind him. Letta hoped Hannah wouldn’t act up and would take orders from what appeared to be a child-king.

  Letta took hold of Simon’s hand to leave and repeated to Hannah, “We’ll be back.”

  One of the younger fae began to play music to soothe the soul, and Letta smiled. Maybe even Hannah could play music that well one day.

  When she and Simon finally returned to the cottage, they heard Mark and Bryan shouting. “No, grab…uh, just, if Simon and Letta see what a mess—”

  Letta opened the door and both puppies and Mark and Bryan looked up from the mess the puppies had made with paper, torn and shredded all over the floor. They looked like they’d played tug-of-war with it and the men.

  “Sorry,” Bryan said. “Uh, are we free to take on some gardening jobs?” He looked hopeful.

  Letta smiled. “Yeah, but after you clean up this mess. Didn’t you get them a tug-of-war toy?”

  “Even our wolf pups have rope chew toys we use to train them in play for when they are adults and can compete in the games,” Simon said.

  Mark pointed at the pristine rope toy. “I think it’s a little big
for them yet.”

  “Hannah stayed with your grandfather?” Bryan asked.

  “Yes, he’s a master magic user, but he’s also very good at teaching all ages how to control their magic.” Letta explained about Hannah’s parents.

  “No one knows what happened to her mother then?” Mark asked.

  “No. The king didn’t even know what had become of the baby girl. He’ll take good care of her.”

  “She won’t be able to return for Halloween, will she?” Bryan asked.

  “Only if she gets her magic under control. She might have to wait until next year.”

  “But she’ll be returning to live with us, won’t she?” Bryan asked.

  Letta smiled. “Yes. This is her home. My grandfather won’t keep her there any longer than he has to, once he’s sure she will be safe to be around.”

  TWO WEEKS LATER, it was the night before Halloween and Simon and Letta had traveled to see her grandfather and check on how Hannah was doing. She was practicing with the younger ones, half her age, and frowned to see Simon and Letta turn up. “I’m not ready.” She sounded so disappointed.

  King Tameron shook his head. “If by tomorrow night she is doing well enough, I’ll take her.” His other charges looked hopeful he’d take them too. He smiled. “Of course. You too.”

  THE NEXT NIGHT, twenty-five of Simon’s pack members of all ages wanted to go trick-or-treating, something they’d never done before. Even two of his older council members were going. He couldn’t believe it, but he was glad so many wanted to enjoy this. He just wished he could cheer Letta up. She’d been so disappointed the night before when her grandfather had said Hannah wasn’t ready to go anywhere. Council member Steel opted to stay home and watch the puppies, now called Hans and Greta.

  They met with Ena and Brett at their castle, and except for Muriel, who was staying to watch their puppies, the rest of their staff was dressed for the fun.

  They went along with Mark and Bryan’s suggestion that they hit some homes in one of the developments near where they used to live where the homeowners gave out tons of candy. Mark and Bryan hadn’t figured out how to use glamor to hide their ages, so Letta used her magic to help them out. When she made them appear to be five-year-olds, they frowned at her. She laughed. Five-year-olds with attitude.