Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (30 page)

“Tim, you can come out of my hair now.”

I felt something tickle the back of my neck, and then Tim was flying over to land next to the keyboard.
 
He was obviously very happy.
 
He danced around a bit and then jumped into some kind of karate maneuvering, smiling and laughing like a crazy person as he imitated someone beating someone else’s ass with a series of kicks and chops, which he executed in the air next to the keyboard.
 
Then he pointed at me and hugged himself hard.

“Yeah, I was pretty friggin’ awesome in there, wasn’t I?”

He nodded his head vigorously.

“You know, I wish I could hear you better.
 
Your voice is so tiny.”
 
The only way I could hear him was if he was in my ear and the room was totally silent.
 
Oh well.
 
We could work with the charades thing for now.

I started typing and Tim watched me carefully.
 
I wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen a computer before, so I talked while I typed.

“This is a computer.
 
We use it to communicate with other people around the world.
 
I used to be a human.
 
I have a human friend who lives in Florida.
 
I miss him.
 
I’m checking to see if he got my message and if he sent me a new one.
 
See?
 
I click on these buttons using the mouse.”

At the word ‘mouse’ Tim freaked.
 
He buzzed up to my shoulder and dug himself into my ponytail.

“Ouch, Tim!
 
Get out of
there,
you’re pulling my hair!
 
What’s wrong with you?”
 
My instinct was to bat him away from the back of my head, but I didn’t want to hurt him, so I just cringed through the pain – but it was hard because those hairs on the back of my neck were very sensitive when they were pulled.

I heard his buzzing again, but the only word I got out of it was ‘mouse’.

“Oh, shit.
 
You’re afraid of mice?”

There was more buzzing.

“Come out of there, you wuss.
 
I wasn’t talking about a real mouse, I was talking about this computer thing here.”
 
I wiggled the mouse back and forth until I felt him come out of my hair.
 
“See?
 
It looks a little like a mouse – white with a long tail?”

Tim flew back down and landed on my hand that was holding the mouse.
 
I continued to click through the buttons that would get me to my email, no longer worried about my wussy friend Tim.
 
He stood like a surfer, balancing on my hand while I moused around.

I had almost finished, and I was poised over the ‘Get New Mail’ button, when Tim suddenly jumped up and down on my hand once.
 
Hard.
 
His landing from the jump made me click the mouse involuntarily.

My new messages popped up.

I laughed.
 
“Good one, Tim!
 
You did it!
 
You stomped that mouse’s ass.”

Tim flew up and suspended himself in front of me, his wings beating so fast they were invisible, a big grin lighting up his face.
 
He started spinning in circles out of sheer delight.
 
I had no idea how he did that without getting motion sick.

“Tim.
 
Chill.
 
I don’t want you accidentally pixying me or barfing on me.”
 
I gave him my stern look.

He immediately stopped flying for joy and put his hand over his heart again.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you promise not to do it.
 
Just don’t do it accidentally either.
 
I don’t want those a-holes thinking they were right about you.”

I saw that I had a new message from Tony, so I immediately ignored Tim.
 
I clicked it open hurriedly, my eyes scanning the one line response over and over, hardly believing what it said.

‘Jayne.
 
I’m fine.
 
No cops needed.
 
Just busy.
 
Talk to you later.
 
Tony.’

I was furious.
 
This was not my Tony.
 
Someone had to be hacking into his account, which then meant Tony wasn’t able to contact me.
 
I clicked the mouse to open up a new message and my fingers began flying over the keys.

‘Whoever you are who has hacked into Tony’s account, you can go fuck yourself.
 
You’d better watch your back because I’m coming for you asshole.’
 
I pressed send without thinking twice.
 
My heart was pounding and my face was sweating.
 

Tim was looking at the computer screen, studying it and my corresponding movements intently.
 
I watched as he flew over to the mouse and then pushed it until the cursor was over the ‘New Message’ button.
 
Then he jumped on top of the mouse, causing it to click open a new message.
 
Then he flew to the keyboard and started jumping around on the keys.
 
Slowly, a sentence started to appear on the screen.

‘
who
is tony’

I got suddenly sad, the fight temporarily leaving me.
 
“He’s my best friend in the whole world.
 
The human in Florida.”

‘
his
message makes you sad’

“Yes.
 
I don’t think it’s him though.
 
I think it’s someone else pretending to be Tony.
 
Tony would never send me a message like this.”

‘
why
don’t you go see him’

“I’m going to.
 
I think.
 
I just have to figure out how.
 
I’m not sure how to get out of this forest or back to Florida.
 
Plus I have no money to pay for a ticket.”
 
I sighed.
 
“Tony and I live in different worlds now and I’m supposed to move on and let him move on too.
 
When I first became fae I thought I’d stay here just a few weeks and then go home.
 
But the more I learn about the fae and their lives and history and future, the more I realize that going home might not be a good option for me.
 
I don’t think I’m going to fit in there anyway.”
 
I laughed bitterly.
 
“Not that I fit in before – but I think I really,
really
won’t fit in now.” This was the first time I’d voiced my fears out loud.
 
It seemed easier to do it to Tim for some reason ... maybe because he was so dang small.

Tim got busy on the keyboard.
 

‘
you
are special, you are not like other fae’

“I don’t know about that.
 
But I know that Tony chose to stay human instead of becoming a changeling.
 
And they said once you deny your fae blood, you don’t get a second chance.
 
So he’s going to be human forever and I’m going to be fae forever.
 
I should just let him go.
 
It’s killing me, but it seems like the only way to be fair to him.
 
He needs to find new friends.
 
I can’t keep holding on to him like this.
 
I know it’s the right thing to do.
 
It’s just that I’m selfish and I want to keep him all to myself.
 
I keep getting
all paranoid
, thinking someone is influencing him.
 
I’m sure it’s just my imagination though.”

Tim looked a little panicked.
 
I don’t think he was prepared to deal with sadness like this.
 
His face lit up all of a sudden and he jumped over to an empty space on the desk and started dancing.
  

He looked hilarious, poking his elbows out and kicking his feet out in all directions.
 
I couldn’t help but laugh.
 
“What the hell is your problem?
 
Are you a mentally ill pixie?
 
Is that why they were able to catch you?”

He stopped dancing and put his hands on his hips, acting all defensive.

“Kidding, I’m kidding.
 
Relax.”

Just then a beep rang out in the room.
 
It was coming from the computer.
 
I had received a new message alert.
 
Tony!

I clicked open the message, Tim temporarily forgotten.

‘Jayne, it’s not a hacker.
 
It’s me.
 
Remember, the guy who can read your vibes?
 
I just need some space is
all.
 
I miss you too much.
 
Give me time.
 
Tony.’

I slowly went through the motions as the tears stung my eyes, logging off and shutting down the computer.
 
I guess this is it.
 
The beginning of the end.
 
Tony was cutting me off.
 
It felt so, so wrong, but I knew that feeling was coming from a selfish place.
 
I felt like my heart was breaking.
 
I had to force the weak-ass tears to go back where they were trying to come from.
 

“Come on – let’s go eat some dinner.
 
I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

Tim got a worried look on his face and started flying back and forth in front of me, agitated about something.
 
I held my hand out.
 
“What?
 
Chillax, will ya?”

He landed on my hand and started talking.
 
I strained so I could hear him.

“Some fae like to eat pixies!”

“Whaaaat?
 
That’s disgusting.
 
Who eats pixies?”

“Ogres!”

“Ew.
 
Ivar is an Ogre, but he didn’t eat you.
 
Besides, you wouldn’t make much of a meal.
 
You’re kinda small ... and boney looking.”

Tim folded his arms.
 
“That ogre wanted to eat me; and I’ll have you know, pixies are considered delicacies by many.”

I shook my head.
 
“Whatever.
 
Stay with me, you’ll be safe.
 
Anyone who tries to eat you or jar you will taste Blackie’s dragonflame ... or dragonfire ... whatever.”
 
I pulled out the tooth to show him.

He zipped to the ceiling so fast, all I saw was a blur.
 
He was gesticulating wildly, but I had no idea what exactly he was saying, just that he wanted me to get Blackie the hell away from him.
 
I put it back in my sheath.
 
“It’s gone.
 
Come back down. Come on, I’m hungry.”

He floated down slowly, keeping an eye on my hands the whole time.
 
“Listen little pixieman, stop looking at me like I’m going to hurt you.
 
If that were my plan I would have done it a long time ago.
 
I’m trusting
you to not pixie me or any of the other fae here and you have to trust me to not burn you.
 
Okay?”

He hovered in front of my face so I could see him nod, his hand over his heart again.
 
Boy, this pixie sure likes his formal swearing stuff.

I left the room with Tim on my shoulder.
 
As we neared the dining hall, I felt him move into my hair.
 
My ponytail was pretty loose and messy at this point, giving him lots of places to hide.
 
I guess while I had a pixie friend, I was going to have to make some hairdo concessions – one of them being messy ponytails instead of neat, tight ones.
 
I shrugged as I considered it.
 
It’s not like I had a love life here or anything.

I opened the door and entered the room, expecting to be greeted by the normal noises and clanking of dishes and utensils.
 
Instead, the noise that was there in the seconds before I opened the door immediately stopped.
 
The only clanking I heard was that of a couple fae actually dropping
their
forks in mid-bite.
 
Several people stood suddenly out of their seats and backed away from me, looking for other exits.

“Oh, for shit’s sake people!
 
He’s just a tiny pixie!
 
He’s not going to hurt any of you!”

The only ones who didn’t look scared were my friends.
 
They looked at me and then at the rest of the group in complete confusion.
 

I tried one more time.
 
“Do I look pixied?
 
Well?
 
Do I?
 
No!
 
I don’t.
 
See?
 
I’m as angry as ever.
 
You guys are racists, you know that?”