Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 3, Portal Guardians (40 page)

He sat up, his hair a mess.
 
"I'm nodallowed."

I winked at him.
 
"I won't tell."

"Really?" he asked, looking around all sly-like.
 
He jumped up and started shucking his clothes.
 
"Okay!
 
Wanna play with me?"

"Nah, you go ahead, little dude.
 
I'm just going to rest here with Spike.

"Okay!
 
Here I go!
 
Watch me, Lellamental!
 
Watch!"

"I'm watchin', Baby Bee."

The baby pixie took off flying around the room bare-ass naked, finally attaching himself to a tree on the far side of the room.

"See me, Lellamental?!
 
See me?!
 
I'm doin' it!
 
Spider nakies, to the rescuuuuuee!!" he left the tree and flew to the spot on the wall where he could squeeze through a hole to go into his parents' room.

Spike watched in amused fascination.
 
"What in the heck was he doing?"

"Some weird game he made up.
 
Keeps him busy."

"But why's he naked?"

"So he can feel the breeze ... how do I know?"
 
I reached my hands down towards him.
 
"Come up here and cuddle with me."

Spike wiggled his eyebrows and crawled up the bed like a tiger to join me under the covers.
 
He pulled them back and got in, drawing me up against his hard body, and throwing the covers back over our heads to ward off the winter chill in the room.
 
"What's the matter, babe?
 
Getting lonely in this big old bed all by yourself?"

"I haven't been alone in this bed since we got back, as you well know," I said, pushing on him playfully, my face going red with the memories.

"Are you complaining?
 
Because I can always go back to sleeping in my little cell if you prefer."

I snuck my arm around his neck.
 
"No way.
 
You're staying with me."

He pulled me in closer and kissed me once on the lips.
 
"I feel bad," he said, breathing out a long sigh and resting his chin on my head.

"Why?" I asked into his chest.
 
I loved the way his skin smelled and felt against mine.

"Because, I never thanked that Lars guy.
 
I should have.
 
If it weren't for him, who knows where we'd be right now.
 
So many things kept getting in the way of us being together.
 
Without him spilling the beans, you'd probably be snuggling up to your half-brother-cousin or whatever he is right now, and I'd be running around in the woods trying to keep my mind off loving you."

"Don't worry about Lars; I thanked him.
 
He knows what he did.
 
And I'm sure he wouldn't want you to feel bad.
 
He's a cool guy, he forgives you for holding out."

"Good.
 
Because sometimes I have nightmares about you being with Ben."

"You and me both.
 
But trust me, that would never happen.
 
He's an arrogant butthead who has a lot to learn about how to treat a girl.
 
Plus, I don't date relatives, no matter how far back in the line they might go."

"He'll have a lot of time to think about that where he is now, though.
 
I kinda feel bad for the guy."

"Pa-lease.
 
He tried to take over the world, Spike.
 
You are way too nice.
 
Too bad he's such a terrible judge of friends.
 
He stuck with Leck and Maléna who tried to use his own arrogance to get rid of him after he'd set them up with all their troops and cronies, and he blew off the one person who might have stopped to help him."

"Tony.
 
Yeah.
 
Dude was seriously disappointed in Ben."

"Of course he was.
 
He still holds out hope that Ben can change and see the error of his ways, though.
 
He visits him sometimes through the Gray.
 
He says they're having some great talks."

"Maybe they are.
 
Maybe it's not just Tony's unwavering faith that's causing him to imagine things."

"Well, it'll be a long time before I forgive Ben for what he did to Samantha and me and everyone else.
 
By the time he gets out of the Overworld portal maybe I'll be over it.
 
Maybe."

"Probably not," said Spike, squeezing me close.
 
"But you don't need to worry about Samantha.
 
She and Jared are tight now.
 
I heard they're living together already."

"I know.
 
So cool.
 
They're really good together.
 
Did you know she and I are going to train with each other this week?"

"Yep.
 
Should be epic.
 
I'm bringing popcorn."

I slapped him for mocking me, even though I knew there was a chance that one of us was probably going to get our butts unintentionally blasted into la-la land.

"You have plenty of time to get a ton of stuff done with her since the next equinox isn't until March."

"Yeah.
 
Thank the Overworld I didn't get stuck with that twenty-four hour duty thing like Ben did."

"You played fair.
 
You didn't try to rig the system.
 
There was no need to teach you the rights and the wrongs of messing with the Order of Things.
 
I have a feeling he's going to be in training for a loooong time."

I giggled.
 
"Yeah.
 
As long as it takes them to let all that air out of his head."

"Power makes people do stupid things," said Spike.

"So does love," I said, thinking sadly of Céline and all the people she'd disappointed, just so she could rescue the fae she loved.

"Don't worry about Céline," said Spike, reading my mind.
 
"She has Torrie now who finally appreciates the love she was offering.
 
And you don't have to hate either one of them since you know he's not the one who hurt your mother, and Céline only did what she did to undo the wrong done to him.
 
You of all people have to understand that kind of dedication."

"Leck is going to burn in the Underworld forever for what he did to my mom and everyone else.
 
I'm going to make sure of it.
 
Leck's on the dragon menu for
life.
 
Maléna too."

Spike chuckled as he leaned down and kissed me, deeper and longer this time.
 
He came up for air and let out a big sigh.
 
"Babe, you just slay me, you know that?"

"Shut up," I said shyly, fake-punching him in the chest.
 
He was always complimenting me and making me feel all warm and fluffy inside.

"No, seriously ... I always knew you were special, from the first second I laid eyes on you in that warehouse and watched you eat that slice of pizza.
 
But you've just blown me away with how much you care about people and take on responsibility for them.
 
I'm glad everyone's finally
getting
you like I do, you know?"

I smiled, unable to stop myself from feeling warmed from my head to my toes.
 
I reached up with my finger to trace the line of his jaw and his beautifully sculpted lips - the most gorgeous, sexy guy I'd ever known.
 
"I'm not anything special.
 
I'm just me.
 
Just ordinary Jayne."

He tipped his head down and grabbed my finger gently in his teeth, licking and then kissing its tip before letting it go.
 
"Ordinary, my ass.
 
You're not ordinary, Jayne ... you're special
.
 
There's nobody like you in the entire world."

I snuggled deeper under the covers with the boy of my dreams, the guy with the crazy-sexy smile and the tattoo of a dragon staring out at me from his chest.

Life was good.
 
No, life was
great
.
 
I had friends, a family, awesome roommates, a boyfriend who loved me, and a very powerful witch who was a fated Fate, ready to teach me everything I needed to know to be a kickass dragonrider.
 
I knew six months ago when I sat in my high school history class that I wanted to be special, that I wanted something
more
out of life, and now I knew why.

Because somewhere deep down inside me, I knew.
 
I
knew
that I was meant to be extraordinary.

Epilogue

Spring was the best time of year for a binding ceremony.
 
I was convinced of that.
 
And no wonder ... the meadow had never been so full of flowers and the Green Forest so covered in fresh leaves and new growth.
 
The majesty here was a fitting metaphor for our lives right now.

"How do I look?" asked Tim, nervously.
 
He had his comb out for the hundredth time, slicking his hair down and spritzing it with some goop a witch had made for him.

"Dude, you're as shellacked as you're going to get.
 
Put the spray away before you completely destroy the ozone."

"Aren't you nervous?!
 
Why aren't you freaking out?!"
 
He looked me up and down quickly, back to staring at himself in the mirror a second later.
 
"You look good, by the way.
 
White suits you."

"Thanks.
 
And Tim ... if you don't calm down, two things are going to happen."

"Oh, yeah?
 
What?" he asked, picking off pieces of lint from his formal fae suit
 
- pieces so small that no one, not even a pixie, would ever be able to see them.
 
They were probably just hallucinations of lint brought on by stress.

"Dial it back, or I'm going to shove you in my bra, and your hair will be a complete mess during the ceremony."

He pointed his comb at me.
 
"Don't you even
think
about it! ... But point taken.
 
I'll chillax.
 
Maybe."
 

"Papa!" yelled Willy, squeezing through the hole in the wall that led from his home to my
 
bedroom.

"Willy, what are you doing here?" asked Tim, finally distracted from his coiffing and lint-picking.
 
"Aren't you supposed to be at the nursery with the other wee pixies?"

"No!
 
I don't wanna!" he insisted, flying over in a haphazard flight path as he fought in midair against this little jacket and itty bitty bow tie.
 
"And Momma's making me comb my hair and wear this yucky tie and it makes me chokey.
 
It looks like ugly."
 
He was trying to pull it off with two hands, but apparently Abby had gotten smart and either knotted it or spell-superglued it on.
 
He was failing at removing it but succeeding in strangling himself.
 
"Rrrrr!
 
Grrrrr!
 
Rrrrr!
 
Get!
 
It!
 
Off!"

"Son, leave it alone.
 
It doesn't look like ugly.
 
It looks like
handsome
.
 
Like your papa.
 
See?"
 
Tim flew in a slow circle, giving Willy his best Zoolander Blue Steel look.

Willy frowned, not appearing very impressed.
 
He glanced over at me for some sort of verification.

It was a golden opportunity to raise hell in the pixie world, but I decided against it.
 
Today was a big day for me, and the last thing I needed was a thousand pixies all up in arms over rebellious babies.
 
"Baby Bee, if you were a big fae like me, and you were wearing that tie, I'd totally want to go play spider nakies with you right now."

He frowned at me in suspicion.
 
"Is dat true?"

"Of course it's true.
 
Look at you, you handsome little beast."
 
I pointed to the mirror.

He flew over and stood on the dresser, hands on tiny hips, pouting in the mirror at his lopsided tie.
 
"It looks like ugly to me."

"Nope.
 
It's handsome."
 
A flash of inspiration hit me then: rebellion, but on a smaller scale.
 
"Hey ... I have an idea.
 
Why don't you go back to the nursery and ask some of the other pixies to play spider nakies with you?
 
I'll bet they'd love it.
 
You can be the boss of the game since you made it up."

A smile quickly replaced Willy's frown.
 
He looked at me, tempering his reaction with the slightest bit of doubt.
 
"But my momma said no spider nakies today."

"Well, is your momma there at the nursery?"

"Jaaaaayne," said Tim.
 
"I see where you're going with this, and as your roommate I feel compelled to warn you against it."

I laughed.
 
"You're his father.
 
You can override me whenever you want."

"I'm aware of that.
 
But it's possible I might in some small measure agree with your wise counsel while also being aware of the terrifying she-pixie in the other room and what she can and will do to me if I countermand one of her orders."

"Ah. I see.
 
So if he exposes his pixie mcnuggets to the entire pixie community, I'll be the one to take the fall."