Entangled With Faeries

by Lynn Donovan

  However, the four of them talked until it was dark.

  Eventually, they yawned more than they spoke, and Joseph suggested they go to their respective apartments.

  “Good idea. I’m really tired.” Holly walked her guest to the door.

  “Me too.” Abbie took Joseph’s elbow. “Escort me home?”

  He nodded with a smile. “I’d be honored.”

  They walked to the elevator while Axel lingered in Holly’s apartment. Perhaps he was getting his goodnight kiss. Abbie smiled at Joseph. “I find that I like Holly when she is with Axel.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know… she seems different when she’s around him. Maybe he’s good for her and vise versa.”

  “I can relate to that.” He smiled. They slowly rode the elevator to the third floor. Joseph walked her to her door. Once she unlocked her door, she turned to Joseph.

  “Good night, Dr. Assad.”

  “Good night. Sleep tight.” Joseph opened her door and watched her enter. “I’ll come get you in the morning.”

  “Thank you.”

  He kissed her sweetly then closed her door.

  Abbie hugged herself and drew in a deep breath, she let it out as she spun around and walked straight to the bedroom. The two faeries flew out of the doll house and the others rose into the air. “We missed you.”

  Abbie smiled. “I missed you too. Are you hungry?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I want my faeries back!” Layla snarled as she paced back and forth in front of the shimmering quartz wall. A small dragon-lizard scurried out of her path just before her foot slammed down on its spiny dorsal. It turned and hissed a spark of fire toward her satin shoe, then ran for cover.

  A thread binding a delicate onyx bead to her slipper in a floral design sizzled. The bead fell to the ground and rolled away from her foot. A micro-sized gerbil with bony plates protruding from its back like a tiny stegosaurus and horns like a ram sat up on its haunches, then bounced out from under the dank leaves to grab the bead. He shoved it into a tiny leather pouch at its side, and hustled back under its cover.

  “They are mine to command! How dare they leave my kingdom? They belong to Velona!” She shook her fist at the scintillating crystalized outcrop. The sheet had not been present in her queendom just two days ago.

  A silhouette eased into view. Layla silenced and crept closer. Had that pink-headed rock-gatherer come back to taunt her with more discussions about her faeries? If she could just reach through this crack, she could pull them back into Velona! She lifted her hand, intending to stick a long, sharp nail into the fissure. A burning sensation zapped her fingertip and she jerked back. Her body wafted into a vapor of wet mud, then blinked into a wall of fire. She gritted her teeth, bringing her form back to the preferred body of a queen.

  “Ow!” She staggered back, shaking the pain from her hand. Rubbing her arm to dispel the ache that lingered in her lean muscles. She glared at the ominous sliver. There was a power in the fracture that prevented her from touching it. The seal of her banishment had not been broken even after all these years.

  She tilted her head. The dark silhouette crept closer. It was not the pink-haired woman. It was a man silhouetted against the crystalized wall. Could it be the same man she had seen, felt, was drawn to when she first stood here gazing at this phenomenal incident in her queendom?

  He had returned.

  She smiled. He could be useful.

  She shook back her hair, letting it cascade over her shoulders as beauty replaced her true image. Falling from her like dark, dead scales tumbling from a snake. Her transformation cascaded with her beautiful hair, one scale at a time, until she stood as a radiant woman in a creamy-white silken Grecian gown.

  She blinked orange slitted eyes, which morphed into lovely rounded violet irises. Her sharp blood-sucking teeth, gnashed with a snap of her jaw, into glistening white pearls of a well-bred goddess. She closed her eyes once again and mustered forth tears.

  “I wonder?” She spoke meekly, positioning her eye near the slight opening. She could just see the man’s ruggedly handsome, sun-bronzed face. “Do you know what has happened here? I-I’m so frightened. Please don’t hurt me, demon.”

  The man leaned closer to the crack. “No. I’m no demon, ma’am. I’m not sure what has happened, but it is a strange phenomenon here, too.”

  She sniffed back tears. “Did you lose your loved one also?”

  “Well, yes. We lost a good man.” The black island in the center of his startlingly blue eye widened as he peered through the hole. It looked like a whirlpool in a clear lake which reflected a cloudless sky. “Who have you lost, ma’am.”

  Layla jerked her head back, tossing it from side to side. Where was this man? What was this ‘here too’ that he spoke of. Could this ‘good man’ come through to her Velona? She would not have this! Her body flashed into a streak of molten lava. She gritted her teeth, bringing herself back into the form she desired. Shaking back the beautiful long hair, she approached the intrusive wall. “I fear we have lost many from my… our world. There are many missing.” She swallowed with difficulty. “I heard a loud noise. Like a mountain had fallen into the sea. I rushed down here to see if my… subjects were harmed. But all I found was this strange wall of glimmering stone” —she leaned back letting her eyes rove over the quartz partition— “It was not here before.”

  She blinked, feeling her eyes contort and return to the beautiful violet, human eyes. “You say one of your kind has come through… to here?”

  “We’re not sure, ma’am.” He looked past her. Was he searching for his missing comrade?

  “You loved this ‘good man’ you lost?” She suppressed the gag reflex that came with the loathsome word.

  He jerked back. “No! He’s an employee. A good man. We don’t know what happened to him, but he’s no longer here.”

  “Where is… here.” Her brow peaked. Could this be what she hoped?

  “Well, I guess you’d say this is Earth. Where are you?”

  She stared at him. Her tears pooled and spilled over her lashes. “Here is where I have been for a… very long time. I too am lost from Earth.” She tenderly wiped a tear. “I call this Velona.”

  He leaned against the solid rock wall. Concern, confusion, even fear cascaded from his persona. She tilted her head, deciphering the meaning of these strangely entangled emotions. Deceit! But who was he deceiving?

  “Ma’am there have been… creatures come through this… well, we aren’t sure how they are getting into our world. We were conducting a… full-scale test, a, uh, experiment. The results were… different than expected. I, uh, some unusual creatures have wandered into our world, that’s for certain.”

  “Oh.” She sobbed, disguising her gritted teeth. How dare her subjects leave Velona! “I was afraid of that! This is dreadful! My poor dear ones!” She sobbed the louder.

  A dark silhouette of his hand pressed against the wall. She put her hand over his on her side of the rock. His eyes smiled.

  “Have you seen… my faeries? They are so delicate, the dear creatures. I feel terrible. They are too curious for their own good—” She gulped as if holding back a sob. “I sent them on a mission to gather berries. Just a task to allow them to feel useful. Oh, what have I done? I sent them to their doom!” She buried her face in her hands. “I can’t imagine what happened to them. Please!” She looked up, projecting desperation in her eyes. “Can you help me find them?”

  “Faeries? Here? I don’t know. What we did see was huge… and alone.” The man’s voice sounded too eager. She loathed him already.

  “I’ve convinced everyone it was just a bear— Do you know what a bear is?”

  She paused. “I recall the animal of which you speak. Lions and bears, snakes in trees, forbidden fruit.” She snarled then regained her composure. “I knew the animals of your kingdom.”

  “Who are you?” The man begged.

  She tossed her head
back, amused by his curiosity. Leaning in closer, her eyes focused on the crack. She considered how to answer his multidimensional question. Was the fissure getting wider? Could there be hope that she would eventually step through, to regain her rightful place among the humans from whom she had been proscribed?

  “Me? I am but a humble Queen in this land. Who might you be? You look to me to be of noble blood. Are you a king?”

  The man breathed in her flattery like the foolish human she took him to be. “No. My name is Stettler, Adam Stettler.”

  She stiffened. “Adam, you say.” Stepping back she gathered herself to keep from revealing her innermost desires. Her heart ached for the one she lost so many years ago. “I once knew a man named Adam, are you his descendent?”

  The man chuckled. “No, my father is… well that’s not his name. May I ask you a question?”

  “I could not refuse one as handsome as you. Ask your question.”

  “Like I said, an unusual… being has come from where you are. Yet, I see you standing there. You look lovely, normal. Are you a human? Can you just walk through to my side of this wall?”

  Layla seethed, sucking saliva through her teeth. This was the very issue she had sent that mongrel Anak to discover. Could this naïve mortal man give her the answers her feeble servant could not?

  She whimpered a lamenting cry. “I don’t know. It is why I stand here, looking for my lost cherubs. I cannot get to them. I must know that they are safe? I pray no one on your side of this… this wall has harmed them?”

  “Ma’am I haven’t seen any faeries. But we lost sight of a large figure—”

  “Oh! My darling faeries! I heard that… woman speak of them!”

  “I don’t know. What woman?”

  “She has hair the color of a pomegranate. She stood at this very wall, making a horrible scraping noise. My teeth were set on edge with her incessant scraping.”

  “I think I know this woman. She’s is a geologist and I assigned her to investigate this phenomenon, to discover what has happened here.” He turned his eye to peer through the crack. “You say she spoke of your faeries? Like real faeries? Tinker Bell-like faeries?”

  “I know not this Tinker Bell creature, but yes my faeries are delicate little creatures, about this big.” She shook her hand and then held up a delicate finger and thumb demonstrating about three inches.

  That rock gatherer! Layla gnashed her teeth and curled her lips. Just as quickly she relaxed and resumed her beautiful composure. “Yes, the poor dears. They are so frightfully dependent, they cling to anyone who seems to be kind to them. They are not intelligent enough to know when they are a nuisance. I’m so sorry for their behavior. Please! Apologize for me when you find them… to her.” She peered through the fissure. “If you could bring them to me, I would reward you handsomely. Up to half my kingdom shall be yours, if only you could return my precious faeries to me.”

  Adam’s eyes widened. He seemed to ponder a thought. “You mean, I could— no, that would be crazy!”

  “What? Ask and it shall be granted, once you bring my precious faeries back to me.”

  “Your eyes are beautiful, my Queen.” He leaned into the fissure. She stepped back to let him observe her beauty. His eyes darted around, taking in her queendom. “I have this… stirring in my heart that cannot be explained. I want to bring you whatever your heart desires. If it is faeries you wish, I will bring them to you. I ask only that you allow me to cross over into your world, perhaps. If I am unable to resolve some issues here, that might be the perfect solution for me. Yes. I could… just disappear.” He stepped away and then returned. “Would you be agreeable to letting me come live in your world?”

  She gawked at him. The nerve! “Yes.” She hissed. A vision of him stepping through a fissure, handing her a cage with the faeries trembling inside. She would take the cage with her left hand and stab him in the heart with her right. He would die astonished at her feet as she laughed, holding up the caged faeries.

  He picked a fingernail at the sliver that remained open between their worlds. “I don’t seem to be able to enter your world. But I will find a way. I promise you, I will find a way, and I will bring you those faeries.”

  She grinned. “Thank you my kind, mysterious prince.”

  His silhouette faded.

  “What a fool! He fell for every lie!” She spat the words like bitter poison from her mouth. “Like I’d share one boulder of my queendom with the unfaithful species of man.” She turned with a flourish and plodded her way back to her castle.

  “Anak!” She summoned her servant to her side through the linking tendrils of his mind. He had better have information!

  Chapter Sixteen

  Abbie leaned on the counter, slowly blinking the sleep from her eyes. She drew her robe tighter across her pajamas. The coffee pot groaned and sighed a final puff of steam. She inhaled and poured herself that first cup of heaven. The toaster popped. She turned and buttered both slices. One she covered with honey, the other she spread a thin coat of blackberry jam. Carrying the cup and toast to a stool, she sat down, and sipped her coffee while the faeries devoured the honey-saturated slice of bread.

  She pulled a Petri dish from her purse and filled it with sweet cream. The faeries took turns bending over the liquid like kittens. Abbie smiled. They were so cute.

  A knock came to her door. “Who could that be?” She carried her coffee to the door and pulled it open. “Yes, may I help— Oh!”

  “Room service, Miss.” Joseph purred his lovely hispanic accent and held up two recyclable grocery sacks.

  “Joseph! What did you bring?” Abbie leaned to kiss his cheek.

  Joseph paused with his bags still held aloft. “Hmm. Keep that up and you’ll never get breakfast.”

  “Well, then, do come in. I promise to behave.” Abbie intentionally let her hips swing as she walked ahead of him. She was shameless around him. She flipped a hand toward the lounging faeries on the counter, sleepily blinking and rubbing their tummies. “I can’t guarantee their behavior though.”

  Joseph chuckled uncomfortably, putting his bags on the counter next to the stove. “Pancakes, bacon, eggs, and…” He looked at the faeries, who eagerly listened, rubbing their hands together. Joseph hesitated, but then followed through. “Cinnamon churros.”

  The faeries jumped up, squealing with delight.

  “Wait a minute.” Abbie rounded her shoulders. “You just ate an entire slice of bread with honey and butter. Now you’re going to eat churros?”

  “Yes!” They sprang into the air, landing next to Joseph and his white sack of Mexican pastries. He leaned back from them, with concern in his face.

  Abbie tsked her tongue. “Well it’s a good thing you have the metabolism of a hummingbird.” She laughed and turned to Joseph. “Thanks, but I just had my toast and coffee.”

  Joseph’s smile dropped. “That’s all you eat for breakfast?”

  “Usually.”

  He shook his head. “How do you keep from fainting without a good breakfast?”

  “I keep very well, thank you… without expanding to where I can’t wear any of my clothes.” She giggled.

  “Alright.” Joseph drew her into his arms, glancing at the faeries, then returning his gaze to her eyes. “Do you mind if I make myself a plate of bacon and eggs? Maybe one churro?” He glanced at the voracious faeries. “If they leave me one. I promise to wash the dishes.”

  Aura stood, sheepishly, and struggled to lift a churro toward Joseph. He took it with a circumspect nod of thanks.

  Abbie smiled, leaning back from his embrace, his arms still encircling her waist. She looked him squarely in the face. “Be my guest.”

  He leaned closer to her, touching his nose to hers like an Eskimo kiss, all the while gazing deeply into her eyes. His lips brushed hers. She wrapped her arms around him and ran her fingers into his hair, pulling him closer, deeper as passion exploded in her heart. He returned her passion, running his hand up and down her back
, covering her mouth with his. Her mind reeled, her passion soared. She wanted so much more!

  “Awwww.” The faeries cooed.

  Abbie turned her head toward them. They stood with their hands serpentined under their chin, enthralled by watching their passionate exchange. Abbie blinked, stepped out of Joseph’s embrace, and cleared her throat.

  “Coffee?” She tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear.

  “Was that… real? Or was it—” He glared at the enamored faeries. “Yes, please.” He turned to the cabinet and reached for the frying pan, visibly shaken by their sudden bout of passion.

  Abbie returned to her stool and watched him deftly prepare the meal.

  “So… I have some news you are not going to like.” Joseph glanced over his shoulder.

  Abbie sat up straighter. “What?”

  “Well, it seems Axel and Holly were arrested last night.”

  “What? How?” She slammed her coffee cup down. “You should have led with that!”

  “Well. It seems they found out where the power coupling had been, um, stored, and they went exploring. Rick Sharp and some of the guards found them… what’s the saying?” He held out his hands. “Red handed?”

  Abbie nodded. “Yeah that’s right if you mean they caught them with the coupling.”

  “Yes. That’s what I mean.”

  “We were just with them last night! Are they alright?” Abbie swallowed.

  Joseph grimaced. “I think so. After we left, I guess they decided to go investigate the damage.”

  “Axel’s the very person who should be assigned to examine that thing! None of this makes sense.”

  “I know.” Joseph turned the bacon over.

  Abbie inhaled. “Mmmm that smells good.”

  “See…” he turned with a beautiful grin across his face. “You are hungry.”