2 Deja Blue (9 page)

“Who the hell is
Grobel
?” I asked, irritated at Brennan’s lack of information.

“
Grobel
is the T
roll who tried to kill you.”

I plunked down on the sand in shock. “Huh?” was the only word I was capable of getting out.

Chapter 10

Brennan placed his hand gently on my leg as he spoke, “Take it easy, Kansas. We won’t let anything happen to you. In fact, I already have an idea,” he smiled with a hint of twinkle in his pale ice-blue eyes. I sat there, feeling defeated as tears welled up in my eyes
. Someone was trying to kill me.
Why? And why does Brennan suddenly seem nicer to me?
E
ver since we had to work together to get rid of that nasty old dragon, he has seemed to grow up. I blinked back the tears and tried to collect myself. I blew out a deep sigh and had to ask, “So,
Grobel
is a
Troll
who purposely pushed those boulders down on me?” I looked questionably at Brennan. He nodded
,
and I continued, “But why? Why would a
Troll
– who I’ve never even met – want me
…(
gulp)…d-dead?” 

Brennan held his sympathetic look and continued to try to sooth me, rubbing the side of my leg. He si
ghed. “Someone, or several
some
ones
, in the Water Court are very upset that
Sirrush
died before coming back through the portal to Fey.
They – or whoever it is – blame
you
for his death. Whoever has this grudge hired
Grobel
to….take care of
you.
”

Again, my mouth dropped open, “You mean, like a
hit
?! Someone hired a
hitman
to take me out?!?” I exclaimed. Was I stuck in an episode of
The Sopranos
?  This was getting crazier by the second. I just simply couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  Then
,
I had a thought: the stocky, leather-clad dude on the motorcycle who almost ran me down
last night
…that must have been
Grobel
.
A.K.A.
Mr.
Creepy
Dark Shadows Stalker
.
Brennan nodded at my silent thoughts and confirmed my suspicions. “Probably so,” he said.

“
Heyyy
!
You’re
not supposed to be reading my mind
! I thought you could only hear me when I was ‘talking’ with my
Fairy
telepathy!? I didn’t
say
that to you!” I smacked his arm and pouted.  Nope. I guess he’s not growing up
after all
. Ugh.

Brennan laughed, “Yea
h.
Ya
did. Don’t worry about it. Y
ou’re still new at this stuff. You’ll figure it out eventually. I’m sure your emotions are just all jumbled right now. When you’re feeling really emotional… or…well…ah…it’s only happened once or twice,” he chuckled again.

I smacked him on the shoulder, harder this time. “You mean to tell me, I’ve been ‘silently talking’ to you before now
,
and I didn’t even know it?!?” I was pissed. How could he not let me in on this tidbit? Brennan leaned back and laughed again, rubbing his arm and pretending like I actually hurt him, “Hey! I said it’s only happened
a few times
,” he had a devilish grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye again. He continued a bit more seriously, “But back to our other conversation…you are in the middle of all of this because of
Grobel
and
because Celestine helped save your life. Now, you are indebted to her.”

I blinked.
“
Wha
?”
I couldn’t even form the entire word. I was bubbling over with all kinds of emotions.
Shock.
 
Fear.
Worry.
Anger.
 
Frustration.
They were all there. I felt the
shrieky
voice coming on again, “What do you mean,
indebted
? I didn’t ask her to save me! She acted like
she
asked
you
if she could ‘be of assistance’ or whatever…how does that make
me
indebted to
her
? Isn’t it, like, her civic duty or something to help out a Prince?”

“Yes, it’s true she asked. And, as she said, she was nearby because she mistook
Grobel
for his b
rother,
Bexin
. That is
who Celestine love
s
. But still, when a
Mermaid
saves a human’s life, the human must repay the favor, in whatever manner the
Mermaid
chooses. Just as if a human saves a
Mermaid
’s life, the
Mermaid
is indebted to the human and must return the favor. It is not the way of the Fairies. It is the way of the
Merpeople
. But, I think I can help you out with this,” he arrogantly smiled, “Just another one of my brilliant ideas…
heh
heh
…”

I cut him off. Annoyance shrilled in my voice as I shook my head, “Great.
Just great.
I have a
craptastic
creepy
Troll
trying to kill me, I’m in debt to a
Mermaid
, and I have to deal with one of
your
‘
brilliant’ ideas?!? Oh, and don’t forget, I have freakish swimming abilities too. What more could happen to me today?” I flopped my hands down in the sand, realizing
that
I wa
s having a small temper tantrum and starting to sound a lot like
my friend,
Jeremy.

Now it was Brennan’s turn to be slightly annoyed. “Look, Ruby, we can’t
talk about this too much longer.
Nick will
start
worrying about you if you don’t join him in the water soon. I’ll fill you in on everything else later. I’ll find
Grobel
and talk to him. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you, okay? Anya and I will place a protective spell around you. Nothing will harm you,
I promise
.”

“Oh, what, so now you can keep me from getting killed? How is that even possible?” I shook my head in disbelief at him.

“
Grobel
is of the Earthen Court. Anya and I are Royalty
of the Earthen Court
. We’re stronger and more powerfu
l. Trust me. We can protect you, e
specially when we know
what
and
who
we are protecting you from. I will go find that punk
Grobel
right now
,
and
,
I promise, I will come talk to you when you return home tomorrow, okay?” He raised his eyebrows at me.

I was still worried, but I knew that Brennan couldn’t lie. I knew he was telling me the truth
,
and I knew I had to trust him. I suppose it was kind of cute how he was trying to be all tough-guy. I shook my head and sighed as I stared down at the sugary-sand beach I was sitting on. This was so miserable.
How could a vacation that started out so great, suddenly turn so sucky?
Even though I was sick to my stomach
,
I didn’t want to involve Nick in any of this. I made a promise to Anya and Brennan that I wouldn’t tell anyone about Fey or any of its magical beings. Besides, Nick wouldn’t believe any of it anyway.  I chewed my lip and contemplated my
options. Believing in Brennan and trusting that he and Anya would keep me safe was my only choice. They hadn’t let me down yet. As Anya said, I am forever connected to Fey now. Not only through my
Fairy
sight and
Fairy
hearing, but now through
Sirrush
and the magic he gave me. Of course, there would be consequences from him dying. I should’ve known that all along. Brennan told me himself that the Royal Counsel of Fey would want answers and that he would deal with them.
It was
kind of like the United Nations
,
I suppose…the Counsel was made up of all of the important people of the Four Royal Courts in Fey. There was a Royal Court for each of the four elements, Earth, Water, Fire and Air. I guess someone wasn’t too happy with all o
f the answers Brennan gave them about our incident with the dragon.
Perhaps someone in the Water Court was really upset that I was involved with killing
Sirrush
?
Maybe I should go talk to them myself? But what would I say? And how the hell would I even get there? I’ve never been to Fey. How does one travel to another magical realm? I’m not even sure I could go. I shook my head in frustration again.

“Come on,” Brennan said as he stood up, pulling my arms to get me to stand, “Let’s
go join the others. D
on’t you worry about a thing, okay, Kansas? We’ll talk more tomorrow
,
and we’ll figure everything out.”

I tried to smile and nodded my head, but a tear slipped out of my eye and down my cheek. I quickly brushed it away, trying to
shake off my nervous fear. “Okay,” I blew out a steadying breath. “Let’s go.” I brushed the sand off of me and followed Brennan out into the waves. My stomach was doing somersaults and my insides felt all clenched up. So this must be what
real
stress
feels like. It was
similar to
how I felt ever
y time I had to take a test in t
rigonometry, only this
felt
about twenty times worse.

As we met up with Anya and Nick, I tried to look casual but I probably just looked constipated. Brennan spoke up right away, thankfully pulling any attention away from me.
“Dude!
I’m
gonna
go hang with that chick I met for a while, ‘
kay
? Sorry to blow you off,” he smirked.
Then he high-fived Nick, who laughed and said, “Sure thing, man.
Co
ol.” I noticed Brennan exchanging
some quiet words with Anya. They kept me out of the conversation, but I could tell they were
telepathically
communicating. I wish I knew how to turn it on and off like they did. Maybe they’ll
teach
me one day. Or
,
maybe I’ll figure it out
on my own
. Or
,
maybe it’s just something that only Royal fairies can do.
Gahhh
! I am
in way
over my head here.  I can’t get my brain to shut off. How in the world was I going
to
get through the day? I wouldn’t be hearing from Brennan until tomorrow night. I might as well put on the best act I could… It was that, or reveal how crazy and nuts my life is to Mr. Hotness, thereby ruining any chance of us staying together. I slowly made my way over to Nick and tried to playfully splash at him. (He
,
of course
,
reciprocated.) Brennan splashed me as he cruised by me in the
water, “Later, Kansas! Stay away from those flying houses,
ya
hear?
Wouldn’t want you to get trapped under anything heavy.”
H
e smiled and winked at me. I rolled my eyes and gripped my stomach as it started nervously churning again. Ugh. Waiting through the next 24 hours w
as
going to be pure hell.

Chapter 11

Okay, so the next 24 hours weren’t exactly hell. If I’m being honest, they were really more like heaven. Oh sure, I was still worried about the mess I was in, but Anya and Brennan were true to their word. Before Nick and I took off to meet his parents, Anya dragged me to the ladies room and cast some kind of spell on me to help calm
me down, and then she
cast all kinds of protection spells a
round me to keep me out of
harm
s
way. I guessed it was to keep me from getting killed,
al
though
she
didn’t use that phrase. Once her calming spell washed over me, I felt more relaxed – not so edgy and jumpy. Even though my little problems hadn’t gone away, they at least felt like they were pushed to the back of my brain, buried under a giant pile of laundry. Once I felt
the knots in my stomach loosen
and I could finally breathe again, the rest of my time with Nick and his parents
was
pretty fun (and uneventful in the
me
-getting-killed-by-a-
Troll
department. Thank God!) I felt that weird, tingly sensation once more, but I’m still not even sure what that is. I’m definitely going to have to find out more about that from my
Fairy
friends when I meet up with them later.