2 Deja Blue (29 page)

I smiled at Brennan, too tired to even speak
,
and rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me, and I fell asleep, knowing that
f
airy
tales really do come true.

Chapter
29

I awoke as the boat pulled up t
o
shore and Brennan gently nudged me awake. I quickly leaned away from his shoulder and stretched out a bit, all the while yawning. I couldn’t wait to get back to Anya and Brennan’s cottage and collapse on Anya’s big, comfy bed.
Unfortunately, the realization of
the
three-
hour car ride hit me
,
and I almost started to cry. I just couldn’t imagine sitting squished up
in the back seat of Brennan’s M
ustang for three hours, when all I wanted to do was pass out and sleep.
J
ust then, Anya spoke
up, answering my silent prayers.
“We thought it might be really late when things were finished here, so Brennan and I took the liberty o
f getting us some rooms at the m
otel just down the road. We’ll sleep there
tonight
, go out to breakfast
in the morning,
and then drive home
,
and have Ruby
back
in plenty of time to celebrate her birthday with her family.” She smiled
,
and I could have kissed her I was so happy.

Jeremy spoke up, “Thank the
Lord
. I am so tired I could sleep
standing up
in a
barn between
the
bulls
. Let’s get the hel
ls-bells-
balls
outta here
,
please.
Now.”
Ha. I sleepily smiled at Jeremy’s crack. You c
an
take the boy out of the small town, but you can’t tak
e the small
town out of the boy.
After we said our goodbyes to everyon
e
at the beach, and Simo
n took off for the nearby woods
,
w
e piled
into Brennan’s car and had a 15-minute
drive to the m
otel. Anya had
reserved
two rooms; one for
the girls
,
and
one for the boys
,
with an adjoining door between them.
Thank goodness Anya had the wherewithal to pack our overni
gh
t bags in the trunk. I slipped out of my swim suit, pulled on a t-shirt
, and fell into bed
.
I was
asleep
before my head hit the pillow.

I was awakened
after only a few short hours of sleep
by the bright
sun
light streaming through the window, the sound of the shower running in the bathroom, and a
thunderous
pounding at the door
that
connect
ed
our room to the boys’ room.
I wearily rolled out of bed and dragged my tired self over to the door to open it.
“Yeah?”
I muttered as I walked away, rubbing my eyes. Brennan and Jeremy bounded through the door, with Jeremy screaming, “Happy
,
happy
,
happy
b
irthday!!!!” I shook my head, sitting down on my bed, yawning. Jeremy sat down on the bed n
ext to me, bouncing up and down, his excitement barely containable.
“
Heyyy
…watch it,” I grow
led at him
.
“
It’s too early in the morning for me to deal with another earthquake.”

Jeremy just laughed and smacked my shoulder, “
Haha
!  Funny girl!
You’re all legal now!
Woohoo
!”

I grumbled some more, “Watch it, Jer. Did you forget how beat up I got yesterday in that swim?
Gimme
a break.”

Brennan interrupted, smiling, “What’s up Kansas, can’t find your broomstick
this morning
? I think you parked it right next to
my car. Shall I get it for you?” I shot Brennan an evil look and let out a big, irritated sigh, “Shut it, Brennan.”

Jeremy got up, ignoring us both, “Man
,
Ruby, you
are
soooo
crabby in the morning
! Now get yourself dressed so we can all go eat.”

The boys left the room and Anya finally emerged from the bathroom. I hurr
ied in to take care of business. I showered quickly
,
got
dressed and came out to find everyone waiting for me in our room. They were all sprawled out on the beds, watching T.V. when I emerged, looking almost alive, but not yet feeling it.
“You guys ready?” I said.

“It’s about time…we thought we’d have to break the door down and rescue you again,” Brennan smirked. I was annoyed with his comment, but then felt a wave of embar
r
ass
ment
and
gratitude towards him.
I muttered, “Oh.
Um.
About that…I never thanked y
ou for saving me last night.” Ashamed at myself for not saying it sooner, I
looked at my hands and chewed on my lip before glancing back up to Brennan’s watching face.

“Don’t worry abou
t it,” he nonchalantly answered as he got up from the bed and started walking towards the door.

Anya jumped up from the bed and said, “Come on guys, let’s go eat!”

As we headed out
to
the car, Brennan walked next to me. He looked at me with curiosity
and
said, “So, I meant to ask…what
exactly
did Freya say
to you when
she
leaned in and touched your hair?”

I thought for a second…
Hmmm…what was it? I was stil
l emerging from
my
foggy
not-so-long
sleep
and was still
feeling pretty
tired from last night. I stared ahead, trying to remember what exactly she
had
said. I answered, “I think she said something like,
f
or
my nobleness, or nobil
ity
or something.
And
then
she thanked me for the
ir
happiness …
Oh. A
nd
then she said
that
they
would give me tr
ibute or something.” I shrugged
,
shaking my head. “I don’t really know. I can’t remember exactly.”

Brennan thoughtfully
nodded,
remaining silent and deep in thought
.

“What?” I said, looking at him.

He shook his head mildly,
redirecting his gaze to me.
“Oh…nothing.
Did she say the word
s
, “
For
your nobility,
or did she phrase it differently?”

I nodded
,
more sure of my answer now, “Yes. She definitely said,
‘
for your nobility
’
…
W
hy?”

Brennan shrugged
and tried to look impassive.
“No reason. Just curious…And
she said the word
‘
tribute,
’
t
oo
?
”

Again, I nodded.
“Yep.
Why? What does that mean?”

Brennan looked away from me
and
,
instead
,
looked out
towards the parking lot. “Oh..
. Nothing you need to worry about.”

Uh-oh.
I’ve heard that before. Just what was
he
going on about now?
Exactly
what
don’t
I have to worry about? I knew there was no point in asking him anything else, because I knew I wouldn’t get
a
straight answer
.
Stupid cryptic
Fairy
answers
.
I was in no mood to argue with Brennan, or try to figure him out this morning. I was tired and grumpy and my stomach was growling with hunger…especially since it was running on empty after I
had
ralphed up everything in it last night.

We arrived at the little diner and ordered breakfast. I was starving and barely took time to
chit-chat
. I was too busy
shoveling food
into my mouth
.

“See? What’d I say before? Kansas never usually has a problem stuffing her face with whatever you put in front of her,” Brennan joked to everyone while we finished up our food.
“
Shhmmpput
.”
I replied, my mouth full of eggs and hash
browns. Brennan raised his eyebrows and smiled. Anya excused herself and got up to use the bathroom just as Jeremy reached across the tabl
e to put the ketchup back in it
s proper place. As he moved his arm, he knocked over his still-full, ice-cold glass of water, which
,
of course, spilled directly into my lap. I yelped. “
Jeez
e
Jer
!
!!
I just froze to de
ath in Lake Superior last night.
I didn’t really need to be drenched in ice water again this morning!” Okay, I knew I was overreacting, but I was still
exhausted.
And that cold
water did nothing
to
improve
my grumpy
mood.
I grabbed
some
napkin
s off the table and t
ried to mop up the water that was in my lap.

Flustered, Jeremy
quickly
said, “Sorry, sorry
,
sorry!” At the same Brennan retorted, “Yeah Kansas, take it easy. You afraid the water’s go
ing to
make you melt?” That was it. If I wasn’t annoyed before, I really was annoyed
now. Seeing me about to explode
and wanting to avoid my volcanic eruption, Jeremy wisely jumped up from the table, “Hey, I’m going to go wrangle up some paper towel
s
to wipe up this mess
.
I’ll get our bill too.”
He took off from the table like a bat out of hell.

I barely gave him a glance and set my steely eyes
on
Brennan. “Cut. It. Out. Brennan. I am sick and tired of your stupid, lame, annoying
Wizard of Oz
references!”
I sat there, glaring at Brennan, waiting for his smug retort.

Brennan
was silent. I readied myself for his attack and watched as he
looked down and started playing with the edge of his napkin before calmly look
ing
back
up
to me. “Do you know why I call you Kansas?”

Hmmm.
Well.
I wasn’t expecting that. He threw me for a loop with that question. I
t
ried to maintain my annoyance, but h
e was throwing off my balance with his unusual calm. I was expecting more pain-in-the-ass and snarky. I
answered
cautiously
, “Yeah. ‘Cause
it’
s
one more way for you to tease me.” Brennan
slowly
smiled, and shook his head, as his fingers cont
in
ued to play with the shredded edges of his napkin.

“No,” he replied, gazing at me,
“Ruby…Next to Anya, you and Leo and Jeremy are really the only family I have. Anya and I aren’t very close to our parents…being with you guys feels more like home to me than being in Fey with my parents. I call you Kansas, because it’s home.
”
He shrugged his shoulders and continued, “
There’s no place like home
.” He dropped
his eyes to look at his shredded napkin, and I sat there, staring at him….speechless.
I never expected him to say anything like that to me in a million years.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and sat there, stuck in silence.