Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 1, After the Fall (7 page)

"It was nice talking to you, but Tim and I have to go," I said, walking to the door that led to the hallway, ignoring the one that connected our two rooms.  It seemed too intimate to use that one for some reason.  I didn't even want to look at it.

"Where are you going?" asked Ben, not moving.

"None of your damn business," I said, grasping the handle and yanking.  Again, it refused to open.  I pulled on it over and over, harder each time, trying to get it to budge, but it stayed firmly closed.  "What the hell is wrong with this friggin door?"

Ben walked over and reached across me to take the handle.

I hurriedly pulled my hand away to avoid touching him.

He easily freed the door from its latch, and it swung open to reveal the hallway beyond.

I frowned.  "How in the hell did you do that?  Where's the lock?"  I leaned back to look at the handle again, trying to see what I'd missed.

"There is no lock.  It's spelled.  Only the person who belongs in the room can open it."

"Whaaat?" I exclaimed, not even sure I believed him.  I looked again at the latch, wondering if there was some tiny trigger there that he was pressing.

"How'd you get in and out of
my
room, then?"

He shrugged.  "I guess I belong there."

I put one hand on my hip, the other holding Tim out in front of me.  "How can you possibly belong in my room when I don't belong in yours?"

"Maybe because I've accepted that's where I belong and you haven't yet, I don't know.  I'm not the witch who put the spell on these rooms."

"Well, who is?" I demanded.  "Because I have a few words to share with him or her."

"I'm not so sure that's something you want to do, actually."

"Oh, believe me.  I
am
sure."

"Fine.  Go talk to Samantha, then."

I stopped the rant that was about to fly out of my mouth. 
Samantha.
  I really, really didn't want to see her, Ben was right about that; not that I'd admit it to him.  After she'd tried to kill me a couple times, succeeded in murdering one of my friends, and made my life just miserable in general, I'd decided we would have to be enemies for life.  Then Maggie the old hag witch went and told me that Samantha and I are related -cousins or something- getting a huge kick out of it, probably, since she knew how much I disliked her.

To say my emotions concerning this chick were confused would be an understatement.  Aside from an absent father I had no desire to see ever again, she and Maggie were my only living relatives that I knew of; and we shared being fae, which was the strongest link I'd ever had to anything in my life.  So I both hated Samantha and wanted to get to know her better, which was kind of sick in a way.  All of this messed up emotion had the final result of me wanting to walk up to her and punch her in the face, so I decided it was probably better if I avoided confronting her on the door issue for now.

"Figures.  Leave it to Samantha to do something stupid and annoying like this."  I stepped out of the room.  "Come on, Tim.  Let's get out of here.  This place stinks like witches."

"Yeah," said Tim's voice, weak and trembling.  "Like witches and demons."

"Yeah," I said, smiling.  "It sure does."

"It's a good spell," said Ben as I walked out.  "She's very skilled."

"Pfft.
Whatever," I said, entering my room and shutting the door to his last comment.

CHAPTER SIX

I WALKED WITH TIM OVER to the archway on our right, just on the other side of my sitting room, and pushed open the door.  I was happy to see that it moved without any problems.

It led to my new bedroom which was about three times the size of my last one.  The bed was bigger also - big enough for two; not that I needed that kind of room, since Chase was gone and it would be a cold day in hell before Ben was ever sharing a mattress with me, especially if he kept acting like he had today.  There was a double dresser for my clothes now instead of a single-sized one, with a decanter of water or some clear liquid on top and three glasses next to it, along with a small silver tray for me to put chocolate ball tokens on for my brownie housekeeper.  A large armoire was in the corner with a chair next to it, and two bedside tables on either side of the bed finished off the furnishings.

I walked over and put Tim on my comforter, sitting down next to him.  "Are you okay, Tim?  You look kind of green."  His color was better than it had been, but he definitely still looked sick.  He hadn't opened his eyes, either.

"Has the world stopped spinning yet?"

"Yes.  And you're in my bedroom now without Ben around, so you can wake up and say whatever you want."

Tim opened his left eye.  "I think I'm gonna ralph."

"Please, not on my bed," I said, looking around.  I jumped up and ran over to the dresser, grabbing one of the glasses.  I went back over to Tim and held it down near his face.  "If you're gonna spew, spew in this."

He opened his other eye.  "I think you'd better just bring me out into the garden.  Put me in a rose.  I'll feel better in a jiff."

I picked him up and carried him out of my room and into the garden.  Abby met us at the entrance, buzzing around Tim anxiously.

"What happened?  Is he okay?"  then she looked closer at him.  "Why are you green?  Did you try that quintuple barrel roll with a triple-twist again?  I told you that's too much.  You're spinning your equilibrium off."  She looked at me, concern marring her features.  "Tim is always trying to push the envelope. 
Always
.  I wish he would just settle down like other pixie husbands sometimes."

"He's pretty good at the barrel rolls, actually," I said.  "What happened was not really his fault, though.  Ben spun him around in a miniature tornado.  He's motion sick, I think."

Abby smiled tolerantly.  "Pixies don't get motion sick.  We're built for flying in extreme conditions, so long as we don't try to do too many acrobatics."  She turned back to Tim, ready to let him have it again.

"Seriously.  It was Ben," I said, getting annoyed at her for brushing off my explanation.  "He threw him into wind spinning at about three hundred miles per hour.  I don't care how well-built pixies are for aerodynamics; that'd make anyone sick."

Tim held up an arm.  "Ladies, ladies.  No need to argue.  There's enough Tim to go around for everyone."

I smiled.  This was the surest sign he was feeling better - an elevated sense of his own sexiness.

Abby sighed.  "He does like to get himself into trouble, doesn't he?  I never realized that about him before, but ever since he's met you, he can't seem to avoid it."

I wasn't sure whether I was hearing censure in her voice or not, but I decided it didn't matter.  Tim was fun and happy when he was getting into mischief, and I was sure it had nothing to do with me - except for the fact that I didn't really chastise him for it.  If that was encouraging it, then I guess I was going to be on Abby's shitlist.  But that sure wasn't going to change anything for me.

"He wants me to put him in a rose," I said, walking towards one with bright red flowers.

"No, not that one," said Abby, buzzing over to my right.  "Put him in this yellow one over here.  He needs something a bit sweeter than the red can offer him right now."

I shrugged, changing course and stopping in front of the flower Abby was nearest.  "Here?" I asked.

"Yes.  Please."

I tipped my palm over the flower until Tim fell into it.  He went face-first into the center, his arms and legs lying over the edges because they didn't fit all the way in, even though it was a pretty big bloom.  I giggled at the vision he made, splayed out across the flower, his face hidden from view but his butt on full display.  One wing was lying flat and the other was sticking up.  His hair looked like he'd put his finger in an electric socket.  I wanted to leave him to his mess, but if I walked away and stopped supporting the flower, he'd for sure fall out onto the gravel path, so I stayed.

"How long do we have to do this?" I asked, taking a moment to look around the garden, my hand supporting the base of the flower where the petals were secured.  I couldn't help but think that this place was magical - as in, literally, there was some serious hocus-pocus going on here.  Blooms of every color and shape were bursting out in full glory.  The air was crisp, so it felt like I should be seeing dead things and red leaves, but this place looked more like a garden in Spring.  

"Wow," I said, my mouth on auto pilot.  "This place is like ... a magic garden or something.  The Garden of Eden."  I could feel the power of the Earth element humming under my feet.  The Green was strong out here and seemed as if it were waiting anxiously for me to connect.  I resisted, though, not wanting to use the power unless I had to.  I knew my future was going to be full of learning how to manage it, so for now, I just wanted to be me -just Jayne- in the garden.

"I do my best," said Abby, her voice full of modesty.

I looked down at her and caught her blushing.  "Do you use magic?"

"Noooo, don't be silly.  I just talk to the flowers and my garden partners, and we do everything we can to make it work."  She hesitated.  "Well, okay, we did have a witch put up a little acceleration spell to get everything ready for you and Ben to move in, but the spells don't do much without us working together.  It was a one-time thing and won't need to be repeated."

"Garden partners?"

"Yes, of course.  I could never do this all on my own."

"Who's helping?"  I could imagine one of the dirty gnomes I knew running around in here with clippers, and it made me nervous for my ankles and eyesight.  I examined the spaces between the plants, looking for signs of Scottish tartans hidden among the leaves.  The gnomes were prone to wearing very short kilts with nothing on underneath, which tended to make me want to gouge my eyeballs out when I made the mistake of looking at the ass-end of one of them when they were bending over.

"Bees, worms, ladybugs, snails ... you name it.  We're all here for the garden."  She smiled, looking around her.

"Well, whatever you're doing, keep on doing it," I said, giving her the props she deserved.  "This is the most peaceful place I've been in since ... ever."  Even my mom's garden didn't come close to this one.  "I feel like never leaving, actually," I said, my eyes moving from flower to flower, losing myself in the colors and lazy, dancing motes of pollen and fuzzy seed pods floating on the light breeze.  I felt my cheeks getting warm and a slight tingle moving over my skin.  A giggle rose up into my throat unbidden, making me smile like a loon.  My cheeks moved up in a huge grin, but I couldn't put my finger on what was so funny.  But then, I found that I didn't care, either.  This place was taking over ... me.

"Get her out of here," said Tim weakly, his voice muffled in the flower petals.  "She's gonna get mesmerized and we'll never get her out."

"Oh, you're right," said Abby, buzzing up near my face.  "Mother!  Listen to me!  You have to leave the garden
right now!"

My hand slipped away from Tim and fell to my side, my strength suddenly waning.  The pixie lady was flitting back and forth in front of my face like an irritating fly, so I tried to brush her away, my arm feeling as heavy as lead.  "You're annoying.  Beat it," I said absently, trying to focus on the pinky pink of a flower a few feet away from Tim.  It kept going in and out of focus for some reason.  I took a step towards it, but it moved back.  I got another step closer, but the bush stayed just out of my reach.  I frowned, trying to make sense of what was happening, but my brain wouldn't focus.  

I turned around and around, the colors of the flowers and trees swirling together into a blur.  I held my arms out, delighting in the dizzying madness, no longer caring about the thing that had been bothering me.  All my problems and worries seemed to float out and away from me, up into the air and out of the garden.  I looked up at the sky and felt myself falling backwards, while my heart and mind flew up into the ether.  I knew I must have landed on my back, but I felt no pain and no jarring as my body was cushioned in the leaves, branches, and vines of a nearby tree.  It was almost like falling underwater.

I was zooming away from the earth, now, going to the heavens to be with Chase, not caring for a second about the friends and family I was leaving behind.  I could see my guardian angel's face, looking at me, intent and not smiling, as was his way.  His strong arms hung by his sides and his wings remained folded behind him, but I could see them over his shoulders and down by his legs.  I'd never seen a man look so beautiful as he did in that moment.  The closer I got, the higher my heart soared.  He'd only been gone for a day, but I missed him so much.  We were going to be together again, and it was all I wanted.  I got closer and closer, and only when I was nearly to him, did I see that one of his wings had blood on it.

A splash of cold water shocked me out of my dream.

The vision of Chase disappeared and was replaced by Tony's face above me, a worried expression telling me I'd messed something up again.  I was lying on the ground in the garden, sticks jabbing me uncomfortably in the back.

"What the hell?" I asked, totally confused.  "Tony, where did you come from?"  I turned my head to the left and right, seeing plant stems and dirt near my face.

"Welcome back," he said, holding out his hand for me to take.

I grabbed it and used it to stand, brushing myself off absently, looking at the three pixies hovering in front of me.

"Papa, she's awake!" said a very disappointed-sounding Willy, pouting.  "You said I could look in her nose, but she got up."

"Well, you should have done it when I said you could instead of talking about it.  Now it's too late," said Tim, smiling at me.  "Welcome back, Jayne.  Thought we'd lost you for a second there."

"Samantha needs to get in here and put a grounding spell over this place or we
will
lose her," scolded Abby, looking at me critically.  "Why didn't she do that before?  She knew this could happen."  Abby flew away, muttering to herself.