Heir of Earth (Forgotten Gods) (33 page)

“Huh,” I said, through frozen lips. I swabbed the chap-stick all over my lips as I remember the wars fought over Helen and Guinevere, or America’s unrelenting obsession with Marilyn, a beauty who was lost in her prime.

“Yes, but we’re being normal today so we can’t talk about me anymore,” he said rising in the saddle once again to tuck the tube away.

“Right,” I said somewhat regretting my words from the night before. There was so much about his world I wanted to learn. But he was right. I needed to know we could be normal. After all, my life was in this world, not his.

And miraculously? We were nothing but normal for the entire afternoon. He led me out along a trail that traced the rocky coastline where salty water sprayed up and cooled the sunshine burning our cheeks. At lunchtime we tied the horses to a tree. Dayne pulled turkey sandwiches and grapes from a bag on his saddle and I felt like a queen dining under the shady branches with the cool green grass tickling my bare feet.

After a short nap with the afternoon breeze blowing a lullaby through the leaves overhead we left the horses and followed a footpath that led to a crumbling stone ruin sleeping by the sea. Ocean birds squawked away from their nests through the gaping hole where a thatched roof had long since blown away. The remains of a staircase spiraled up the outer wall leading to the upper floors where missing boards sent shafts of sunshine spilling onto our path. On the bottom floor, broken wooden countertops circled the kitchen and a rickety old table and chairs sat in one corner.

Dayne walked over to it and sat down.

“What’s for supper?” He asked pulling a dusty old tin plate from a shelf at his right.

I laughed and pulled the old cast iron pot still hanging in the fireplace over the hearth.

“Hmmm….let me see.” I nearly jumped out of my skin when I peered in and a big-eared field mouse jumped out at me from the cozy nest it had made inside.

My scream scared the mouse more than it had scared me, and it squeaked all the way to a little hole in the wall. Dayne chuckled from the corner.

“You can’t let a little country mouse scare you if you’re going to live here.”

“Who said I’m living here?” It was an automatic response, but it was totally not thought out. The thought of living anywhere without Dayne made my stomach ball into knots.

He shrugged his shoulders and raised a single brow before starting up the stairs.

I had no choice but to follow after a reaction like that. He wanted me to stay here? With him? I hadn’t really thought about what would happen when this summer came to an end. He obviously had, but I was afraid I might seem too eager if I asked him what he meant. So, I tucked the thoughts away with the million other questions the past 24 hours had brought and fell in step behind him.

Stones from the deteriorating steps crumbled to the floor below, loosened by the first feet that had walked over them in years. Light from a window on the first floor broke over my face and I closed my eyes in the brightness.

On my next step a stone gave way under my foot.

I struggled to regain my balance, but I had been too close to the edge. It was hopeless. My heart swelled up into my throat as the rock crumbled completely, sending my balance over the edge of the staircase along with it. My arms flailed wildly searching for anything to grab on to. I found nothing and the weightlessness of falling replaced the solid feel of gravity.

All I could do was scream.

Light flashed bright in my eyes and a second later I was standing back on the step, Dayne’s arm around the small of my back.

“Sorry,” he winced holding me for a moment before letting me go. “I can’t really help it,” he apologized.

“You don’t have to apologize for saving my life.” I peeked over the edge of the steps at where my body would have been laying if I hadn’t been dating a fairy.

“But we’re trying to be normal…”

“Yeah…I don’t really think normal is going to work for us.” A curl hung over his wrinkled brow and I tucked it behind his ear.

“At least we tried?” he offered, taking my hand and leading me back where Lisana and LeSheen were dozing in the afternoon sun.

As perfect as the day was, it eventually had to end. A river ran along one side of the trail as we walked home. It was a hot afternoon for Ireland and I pulled Lisana off the road and into the cooling waters of the stream.

“Come join me. The water feels amazing!” I leaned down to touch the surface treading by Lisana’s grey shoulder.

“Nope.” His face darkened and he shook his head, watching me nervously.

“Why not? Can’t you swim?” I teased thinking maybe I had found the only imperfect thing about him.

“Like a fish.” He cast a scowl my way. “We don’t enter the water on this side.”

“Never?” I kicked my foot and a spray of water flew through the air in his direction. “Why not?”

“Sidhe rule on the land. Our magic is useless in the water.” LeSheen moved quickly out of the way of the falling droplets without Dayne moving a muscle. “Would you please get out? You’re making me nervous.”

“Who rules the water?” I turned Lisana back to the bank and grabbed a fist full of mane as she scampered up to the trail.

“Descendants of Neptune.” Dayne dropped the reins onto the LeSheen’s neck and reached up to pick apples from a passing tree.

“I thought he guarded the sea.” I dropped my reins as well and the two horses continued down the trail, knowing exactly where we were headed.

“All water is connected in some way.” He tossed one of the fruits my way.

“Huh.” I thought as I polished it on my shirt and took a big bite.

I lingered outside the tavern
still dressed in my dirty riding clothes. Days like this were enough to make a girl lose her mind. The last 24 hours had been a roller-coaster ride. Nothing in my life was the same. Everything I knew, or thought I did, had just been turned upside down, and I wondered if I could act normal in this world anymore. My brain and body ached, dreading the tediousness of the conversation I was about to have. I had to keep my story simple.

I straightened myself and pulled Dayne’s jacket closer around me. I had to do this. I had to get through this interrogation for us, to protect our secrets. I
would
do this.

April, Norah and Alana were sitting at a table littered with Coke bottles and half eaten baskets of French-fries along the front wall.

“Hey guys,” I said, the words catching in my throat. I plopped down beside April, hoping they didn’t see my hesitation.

“Faye!” April grabbed me in a huge hug. She was picking up Rose’s best habit. I hated that I was about to lie to my best friend. She released me, and I smiled across the table at Norah and Alana, who actually looked happy to see me.

“Hey, Faye. I’m glad you’re okay,” Norah said, reaching out to squeeze my arm.

“Yeah, you’re like a celebrity in Clonlea today. Everybody’s talking about you, and Dayne’s new hero status. Think if he hadn’t found you? You would have just wandered on forever.” Alana dipped a French fry in some ketchup and popped it in her mouth.

“Yeah, I’m really lucky he found me,” I nodded and waved to the waitress to order a Coke.

“So, I know you told Rose you don’t remember anything, but I also know you’re lying, so tell us everything.” April scooted closer to me and propped her chin in her hand, ready to hear a good story.

“That’s honestly the truth,” I said, leaning away from the table. “I remember waving good bye to you and Rose and that’s it. Apparently he found me wandering down the road and was able to talk me into letting him take me home. He told Rose I was really out of sorts,” I added this last part to try and cover my tracks. I had to keep this story simple. Details were dangerous.

“That’s horrible!” April cried. “An entire night with him and you don’t remember a thing!” April’s excitement deflated as she looked at Norah and Alana, who seemed equally disappointed as well. They were hungry for any detail. I couldn’t blame them. I had been the same way. I knew how intoxicating his charms were.

“I know. Horrible,” I echoed her words as I removed a straw from its paper wrapping and plunged in into my drink. I took a long sip, hoping the topic would change.

A flash of movement caught my eye, and I looked up to see Tara glowering down at me like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey.

“So, you and Dayne are together?” She spoke so violently through clenched teeth a speck of her spit landed on my nose.

“What are you talking about, Tara?” I wiped it away with disgust. There was no way she could know the truth. The town only knew what Rose had told them.

“I just talked to Lucas. He said you and Dayne were out riding together all afternoon.” Her hands were on her hips, her nails digging into her waistband.

I had forgotten about him. Lucas did know part of my truth and he was certainly upset enough to use it against me. Unleashing Tara’s fury was a brutal revenge.

“Well, we did,” I answered slowly, trying to think my way out of this situation. Tara grabbed at the collar of Dayne’s jacket with such force she pulled me from the booth. I scrambled to catch myself and stood up to face her.

“And he just happened to give you his jacket?” She was even madder now, but her last trick had piqued my anger to match hers.

“So what if he did?” I shot back. She had no claim on him. He did not belong to her. We were face to face now, inches from one another. My hands instinctively curled into tight little balls at my side.

“So what?” She retorted, tossing her head wildly, unable to believe anyone had the audacity to challenge what she said. Her cold eyes flickered like a candle struggling for life in a strong wind, looking me up and down in disgust. No one questioned Tara, let alone stood up to her. She was the untouchable one of the group—the mean girl queen when she wasn’t too distracted by her obsession with Dayne.

“I’ll tell you
what
.” She glared at me as she continued, sticking a finger in my chest for effect. “You’re delusional if you think Dayne DeLaney cares for you any more than he did all the other girls before you. He doesn’t. As soon as he gets what he wants from you, he’ll toss you aside too. You aren’t special. You’re pathetic to think you might be.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest before she continued.

“You came waltzing in here thinking you’re all
that
because you’re from America. Well, guess what? You aren’t. No one here likes you. April only acts like she does because her job depends on it.”

“That’s not true…” April started to protest, but fell silent the moment Tara pointed a boney finger and shot a cold look in her direction. Satisfied she had silenced the objection, she continued.

“These aren’t your friends, and this isn’t your life. It’s mine. And I’ve decided I don’t want you in it anymore. So you can go now. Go back to whatever pathetic little life you had before. We’re done with you.” She waved me dismissively away and sat down by Alana smoothing her outfit into place.

The three faces around the table hung down. They knew my secret. They knew I had lied to them about Dayne. What was worse? Tara had just used her mean girl mind control tricks to turn them against me. The hot burn of embarrassed defeat spread from the back of my neck, over my ears and onto the cheeks I was fighting furiously to keep dry. My chin quivered with the tears I was choking back. The hot, salty taste of blood mixed around in my mouth where I had accidentally trapped my tongue between clenched teeth.

April slowly looked up at me. When our eyes met the world went black and white and my vision from the night we had picked herbs became reality.

I closed my eyes and sighed in a defeated way. I’d promised myself I would never do anything to hurt April, but in the end, I had. I’d lied to her about Dayne, because I’d had no other choice. And now... she was crushed by my betrayal.

I shook my head, my heart sinking to my toes.

“April, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me,” I said, grief twisting my words.

“I…” April began to speak, and judging from the look on her face, I thought it might be “I forgive you.” But Tara chose that exact moment to jump back in.

“
I
said, we’re done.” Tara seethed at April, daring her to defy her again. April’s eyes hit the linoleum table again, and I burned the top of Tara’s head with a withering look for treating my friend with such tyrannical intolerance.

I knew they didn’t really like Tara. They all talked about her behind her back. But they feared Tara, and that was more powerful than true friendship in teen girl world. It was much easier to be on her good side than to be in her crosshairs. They craved her approval more than anything, and Tara knew it. She would never see any of these girls as her equal. She held her approval just out of reach, dangling it like a carrot, encouragement to keep them in their proper place as mean girl minions.

I was her target. Tara was smart. She was better at this than I was. She had brainwashed and bullied these girls until they would never dream of challenging her openly to her face. She was a skilled assassin with the passive aggressiveness of female psychological warfare. She defeated from within.

But Tara mistakenly underestimated the extent of my new reality. She didn’t have a clue about the strength Dayne’s love gave me. I was impervious to her verbal attacks. Her games would not work on me. My world had just completely shifted and a mean girl like Tara meant nothing to me anymore. The heat of embarrassed defeat stoked within me and quickly turned to a conflagration of rage. She was not going to do this to me. No one would ever make me feel worthless again.