Earth Child (Romance Novels of The Fae Realm) (6 page)

            I sat in silence, trying to absorb everything that Cerus had told me.  “So you’re Fae?”

            “Yes.  I’m a member of the Spring tribe.”

            “Do you have powers?”

            “A few.  I am a guardian. A warrior.  My powers are strongest during the spring season.”

            “What can you do?”

            “It’s difficult to explain.”

            “So Jariah…he’s Shadow Fae?”

            “Yes.”

            “He called you brother.”

            “I told you, not everyone will welcome a Halfling to the throne.” We drove in silence the rest of the way home.

            All too soon we were pulling into my driveway.  Cerus cut the engine and turned to me expectantly.  I’m not sure what he wanted me to say.  I couldn’t leave my life behind.  Nancy parted the living room curtains and looked at the unfamiliar car parked in her driveway.  I unbuckled my seat belt and reached for the door handle.

            “Alexa you need to understand.  The Shadow will stop at nothing to destroy you.  To them you are an abomination.” Cerus said, grabbing my arm.

            “I can’t leave.  I have family here.  Friends.  I don’t know anything about being Fae.  I know all about being human.  This is where I belong.  I’m sorry Cerus, but I’m not going with you.”

            “It’s not safe here.”

            “I understand that.”

            “I don’t think you do” he said reaching out to caress my face.

            “Well you’re a guardian.  Why don’t you stay here.  With me.” We sat in silence for a while, each regarding the other.  Cerus leaned forward and I met him in the middle, our lips meeting for another searing kiss.

            “Just as you cannot leave with me, I cannot stay with you.” Cerus whispered.

            My heart broke with that one statement.  “I understand,” and with that I fled his car, running through the door and up to my room before Cerus or Nancy could see the tears streaming down my face.

            Sleep was impossible.  I couldn’t settle my mind or body.  All I kept thinking about was Cerus, Jariah, and the Fae.  If my life was in danger that meant that so was the life of my parents and Sam.  Were something to happened to them because of me I don’t know if I would be able to forgive myself.  The sun was just starting to lighten the sky when I finally fell asleep.  A few short hours later and my alarm was blaring, signifying another school day.  Thoughts of my family bloodied and broken kept ricocheting through my mind.  I really had only one way to save them.  There were only 11 weeks of school left.  After graduation I would join the Fae.

            Decision made I rushed through my morning routine, out the door, and sped to school.  My plan had only one problem.  I didn’t know when or if I would see Cerus again.  The way we left things yesterday felt like finality, a goodbye that I wasn’t prepared to face.  I barely knew him, yet I was so drawn to him that I felt emptiness without him.  So today I had two goals; first, make it through the school day and second, find a way to contact the Fae.

            Sam was waiting for me by my locker, but he wasn’t alone.  I had hoped to have a few minutes alone with him to share what Cerus had told me yesterday.  So I was less than enthused to see Bethany Scott and a boy I had seen around the halls, but didn’t really know waiting with him.  My steps slowed and with hesitation I approached.

            “Hey Sam” I greeted them.

            “Hey Lex.  You know Bethany.  This is her cousin Adam” Sam made the awkward introductions.  From the look on his face I could tell that this was Bethany’s idea.

            Great.  So this was my pity date for prom.  I had so much other stuff to worry about that I didn’t want to deal with this.  A little ruder than I needed to I turned to Adam, “Hey.  I’m sure you’re a nice guy and all, but I already have a date for Prom” without waiting for a reply I turned and walked to my first class.  It was a lie, but I didn’t really care at this point.

            “Lex!”  Sam yelled to my retreating back.  I pretended like I couldn’t hear him and kept walking.

            My first class was Trigonometry.  To get there I had to walk past the main office.  This morning there was an unusual amount of activity surrounding the bank of windows that wrapped around it.  About 25 of the upper class female students were pressed against the glass windows each vying for a better view.  Curious I slowed my step, seeing if I could catch a glimpse at what had attracted them.  I had almost passed the bank of windows when two girls parted and I saw him.  I stopped completely and my jaw dropped.  Standing there in designer jeans, a button down black shirt and perfectly mussed up hair was Cerus, deftly charming the front office lady as he went through the new student routine, getting his class schedule, school map, and other useless bits of info that the school thought was necessary.

            He turned to the office door.  The female students turned and collectively held their breath, waiting for him to exit.  I stood frozen in the hallway, afraid to move and find that this is all a dream and he’s not really here.  Like the Red Sea, the females parted and Cerus walked straight for me, a half smile gracing his beautiful face.  Pausing in front of me he reached out, tucked some hair behind my ear and kissed me.  I don’t know what was more perfect.  Cerus standing here, or the immediate question that raced through the mind of my classmates.  I glanced over his shoulder to see that each face had the same expression.  They all wanted to know how I had managed to get the hottest guy in school, just minutes after he enrolled.  I smiled a triumphant smile.  This day just got immensely better.

            “Good morning Alexa.  Shall we go to class?” Cerus took my bag, flung it over his shoulder, turned, grabbed my hand and together we walked toward the Trigonometry classroom.

            “I thought I was never going to see you again.”

            “Well you were right.  I am a guardian, and you are a treasure that needs to be protected.”

            “Cerus I’ve made a decision.  When school is out I’ll go with you.  I’ll join the Fae.  That gives us 11 weeks to come up with a plan.”

            “A plan?”

            “Yes, a way to leave, to say goodbye so that everyone that I love will be safe too.”

            “11 weeks” he remarked.

            “11 weeks” I confirmed.

*          *          *          *

            After a brief conversation where we both apologized for yesterday I discovered that Cerus had enrolled in most of my classes.  I had most of my credits necessary to graduate already so I had two periods where I served as a teacher’s aide.  Those periods and gym were the only times that Cerus and I would be apart.  I was also informed that on the weekends he would start teaching me how to use my powers.  Just the fact that I had powers started to make this whole bizarre situation seem more and more real.

            “Alexa, it’s important that we tell no one who you really are.  The knowledge is dangerous, to you and to them” Cerus warned.

            “Except Sam” I argued.

            “Even Sam” he countered

            “That will never work.  Sam already knows something is going on.  He was there yesterday, remember?  Besides he’s not stupid either.  If I don’t tell him something he’ll seek out the answers on his own.”

            “He won’t find much.  At least nothing based on truth.”

            “I trust him.  We need to tell him the truth.  For him it will be more dangerous if we don’t.  He’ll find out what he thinks will be the truth and he’ll do something stupid.”

            “I admit that I’m not excited by the idea, but if you trust him then we’ll tell him.”

            I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.  “Thank you.”

            The rest of the morning sped by.  Stowing my bag in my locker, Cerus and I headed toward the cafeteria.  I was hoping to find Sam and get him caught up on everything.  It was both exciting and weird to be walking down the halls with Cerus.  Student’s eyes followed us everywhere and after we passed any group of girls, furious whispers broke out.  After being socially ignored for so long the attention left me kind of uncomfortable. 

            Entering the cafeteria I quickly scanned the sea of students looking for Sam’s familiar tall frame.  Just as I spotted him, he spotted Cerus behind me.  Angry over my actions this morning, Cerus’ presence just fueled his frustration and Sam quickly stood, shook his head and walked away.  I felt deflated.  There was so much that I needed to tell Sam, and because I was stupid this morning I was paying for it now.  All I could do was hope that he would come around.  As if sensing my melancholy Cerus pulled me in for a tight hug.

            “It will be okay Alexa” he whispered.  I nodded in agreement, but I wasn’t sure if I believed him.

            It took a week for Sam to talk to me again.  During that time I had established a slightly different routine along with the first inklings of a plan that wouldn’t cause Richard and Nancy to file a missing person report.  Outward Bound had a summer program to help troubled teens.  They were looking for new counselors with experience.  I started hinting that it would be a great experience, and I that I was thinking of applying.  I also left various pamphlets and other information lying strategically around the house.  After a few days the parents were talking up the great opportunity that Outward Bound was going to provide me and how it would look good when I needed to get an internship after my freshman year of college.

            Cerus insisted that I quit my job at the FotoHut.  I objected at first, I still needed gas money to get around.  When he told me that I had access to the Fae treasury and that I was basically a gazillionaire I decided that the time could be better spent with family and friends.  Cerus had other ideas.  Now instead of spending my Tuesday and Wednesday evenings in boredom, I spent it working on my hand to hand combat.  Fighting is hard and I soon learned just how pathetically out of shape I really was.  I had always been active, just leisurely active.  The strenuous workouts that Cerus put me through that first week left me barely able to walk.

            We had been working for three weeks now.  I had dropped 20 pounds and was pleased at the appearance of several new lean and sculpted muscles.  I didn’t know if I was ever going to have to use my newly acquired skills, but I have to admit that I liked the results.  My lessons on using my Fae powers were coming along nicely as well.  I can tune into the energies all around us, communicate with small animals and anything growing in the ground.  It’s kind of fun to call to the trees by the side of the house, step out onto their branches and slowly lower myself to the ground.  Sam thinks it’s cool too.  He’s always asking me to do crazy things.

            “Lex can you make apples blue?”

            “Why would I want to make apples blue?  They’re just fine the way they are.”

            “Because it would be funny!”

            “Cerus says that I am meant to work with nature and the earth energies.  Making apples blue would be going against that.”

            “
Cerus says…
I’m really getting tired of your sentences starting out like that.”

            “Hey, no one is forcing you to hang out with me” I smile at him.  “Admit it, you’d be bored without me around.”

            “Okay fine I admit it” he smiled back, palms up in a gesture of defeat.  “So what are you wearing this weekend?”

            “This weekend?  Probably just the usual workout clothes.  Why?  What are you wearing?  Is it supposed to rain or something?  Maybe if it does I can work on changing the weather.  Cerus says that I can manipulate things so that storms are delayed or weakened” I look up at Sam and he’s just staring at me like I have a booger hanging on my nose or food in my teeth.  “What?”

            “Prom is Saturday.  You told Adam you had a date.”

            “Oh crap.  Yeah, I totally lied.”

            “So go with Cerus.”

            “Ha!  Cerus in a tuxedo!  That would be fun to see.  Nah I’ll just do my training as usual.  Besides, it’s too late to find a good dress anyway.  And I’m not really big on school dances so I’ll be okay.”

            “Lex, prom is a rite of passage.  You can’t miss it.”

            “I missed last year just fine.”

            “Junior prom doesn’t count” he frowned at me.

            I sighed.  Part of me did want to go, to dress up all frilly and dance the night away.  For a moment I allowed myself to become lost in a Cinderella type fantasy, me standing at the top of an elaborate stair case, Cerus waiting at the bottom; people turning to stare at me, stunned and speechless over my transformation from average unremarkable to beautiful goddess.  A fantasy was all it would ever be though.

            “Sam, I’ll be fine.  You go.  Have fun with Bethany, be a dancing machine.  How are things going with her anyway?”

            Sam started blushing.  “A little faster than I really wanted.  She keeps asking me which hotel we’re staying at.”

            “You mean she wants to…”

            “Yeah.  I like her, and kissing her is fun, but I don’t know if I love her, and I’m definitely not ready for sex.  I’m probably the only red-blooded teenage boy to ever say that.”

            “Tell her.  If she really likes you she’ll respect you for it.”

            “Yeah I guess” he mumbled looking down at his shoes.  “Lex, don’t give up on prom yet.  You really should try to go.  No one will care if you don’t have a fancy dress.  Just…just don’t lose yourself in all the Fae stuff yet.  You’re still here, still human.  You should have a human prom.”

            “I’ll think about it.”

            “Cool” he smiles at me, giving me a half hug.