The Steward (16 page)

EIGHT

SPECTACLE

I had to know, so I looked at him squarely in the eyes.“So, the truth, why are you so frickin’ beautiful?”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gavin said with a straight face.

“Bull!” I said, raising my voice a little. “Why did you choose to be so beautiful?”

He got a half-smile on his face and tilted his head just enough that the butterflies in my stomach lurched back to life. “Have you ever read stories about my kind? Read any stereotypes about us?”

“I thought all of those were garbage?”

He nodded his head. “Mostly, they’re terrible, but even authors who are horribly uninformed get it right about one thing. We are narcissistic.”

I smiled, imagining him with gossamer wings.

“I’ll have you know, Miss O’Shea, I have never adorned myself with insect wings, nor any wings for that matter. Stereotypes die hard, I guess.” He shook his head trying not to act amused.

I thought it was only natural for the Air aligned Fae to take a bird or insect form at some point, as Devin and Sara made it sound like that was the norm, but it occurred to me that I’d never asked.

“Are you Air aligned?”

“No, I am not, and I’m surprised—I expected the question sooner.”

He grinned, and grabbed another handful of stones. He began flicking them at the lake, one by one, as he’d done for the last thirty minutes. “I think if I’m going to be your
Treoraí
, you should guess.”

I liked this game—it gave me an excuse to focus on him. I stood up and walked a few steps backwards to take him all in. The sun was high in the blue eastern sky and beaming down on him from behind. His hair, tousled in the morning breeze, shiny and black, framed his dazzling face. He lifted his hand just slightly and flicked a rock into the water. The muscles in his arm and chest moved under the blue fleece, flexing and relaxing when his arm fell back across his thigh. He was playing with gravel, I thought, so maybe he’s Earth aligned. I remembered in the cave when Devin transformed into the blond model, he too expressed disgust at the thought of having wings. For some reason, though, Earth didn’t feel right.

I considered Water as I walked to his side. He lived near the lake, and seemed relaxed here on the beach. Sara explained to me that Water was tied to intellect and the essence of life. I considered those qualities as I watched him toss one more pebble at the lake surface. His back had the shape of a ‘V’—his shoulders more than twice as wide as his waist. The big muscles running from his neck to his shoulder, and those that ran across his upper back flexed and relaxed in unison. Water was a good option, I thought, but he seemed more visceral.

I walked around him and he turned his head to follow until the morning sun was in his face. His eyes were the color of chocolate, dark chocolate, but for a few flecks of golden amber that reflected the sunlight. “Fire,” I said. I could tell by the grin on his face that I was correct.

“So, what can you do?” I asked, “If you want to be my
Treoraí
, I should get a demonstration first.”

He continued to focus on me, not moving a muscle or even blinking. From a tiny white cloud that floated above us, a bolt of lightning streaked through the sky down to the lake, hitting only two hundred yards away. I screamed and flinched when the crack of the thunder rumbled past me. Justice sprinted across the beach and disappeared up the trail. Gavin smiled devilishly.

“Is that enough?” he asked.

My heart was racing from the surge of adrenalin coursing through my veins. “No, show me more,” I begged.

He had a wry look on his face, and lifted one eyebrow. He tossed one of the pebbles in his hand toward the lake. It burst into a fireball as soon as it left his fingers, striking the water in a trail of smoke, making a hissing sound as the bright flames sank below the surface before going out. I couldn’t stop the audible gasp that filled my lungs. He looked back at me and smiled. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Gavin placed his hand against the side of the dead tree stump he sat on. I expected to see it burst into flame, but instead green shoots appeared inside a gaping crack that ran down the side of the log. Within a few seconds the shoots were several inches long and tiny buds began to form. At first I assumed he was bringing the tree back to life, but I realized that wasn’t the case when bright yellow dandelion blooms erupted and turned to white puffy seed heads in front of my eyes. A breeze picked up, blowing the tiny seeds onto the rocky beach. Within ten seconds the sequence repeated itself and thousands of dandelions emerged all around us. I stood there, agape.

“Oh, not a fan of dandelions?” he asked. With that, each one burst into flames and disappeared into tiny blackened spots on the rocks in front of me.

My mouth hung open for several seconds until he laughed.

“Did you make the breeze?” I asked.

“Wait!” He paused to laugh. “After all of that, you’re asking about the breeze?”

I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question. “You’re Fire aligned—wouldn’t a gust of wind fall under the Air category?”

He nodded his head. “Yes, it does. I’m not very good with Air, but the same principles that work with Fire energy also work with Air, Water and Earth.” He shook his head. “We don’t fit into neat categories. Naeshura is Naeshura—energy is energy. Most of us are better with one element than any other, ergo the whole alignment thing, but most Fae can manipulate all the elements to some degree, though it often requires physical contact. Then there is the Aetherfae who has balance with all elements.”

Thinking back to Sara and the cave, it made sense. She is Air inclined, but helped me manipulate stone. Then I remembered what Aunt May had showed me in the Gazebo. In the center of the room, she pointed at the mosaic in the floor. There were four equal-sized circles arranged so they all intersected at exactly the same place in the center. A fifth circle, centered in the middle, overlaid the others. She said that the fifth circle represented Aether, the center. She said it was an ancient symbol for transcendence and insight.

“Aetherfae? As in Aether, the element in the fifth circle, from the mosaic symbol in the floor of the Gazebo?”

“Gazebo?” he mused. “An interesting and innocuous choice of words for that particular structure.” He shook his head. “But yes, Aetherfae does refer to a Fae who has mastery over the elements, but it’s more than just controlling them. Aether is the balance and harmony of all four—it is the understanding of the very essence of existence, and being in harmony with it. You see, I can control all four elements, but I cannot bring balance to them simultaneously.”

“Do you know any Aetherfae?”

“Only one—Ozara,” he said.

“She’s on the Seelie Council?”

“Yes, but Ozara is more than that. Ozara brokered the peace between the two clans and remains the only Fae the Unseelie truly fear. As you’ve probably guessed, Ozara’s ability to control all of the elements makes her a very powerful Fae, but her ability to create and control Aether makes her lethal. It was Ozara who brokered the deal with your family—she likes the
O’Shea clan
.”

I was still curious about Aether, and what role it played in another term I’d heard in the cave. “How does a Maebown work into this?”

He studied me for a moment with a small grin forming on his thick, masculine lips. “A Maebown is the human equivalent of the Aetherfae. A few humans develop a considerable ability to sense Naeshura, others learn to channel it, and some even learn to alter it. Maebowns are humans who have learned to find the balance in all four elements. Throughout history, there have been only two Maebowns. The first was an Egyptian who lived around five thousand years ago—the last was a Celt who lived nearly two thousand years ago.”

He paused for a moment and turned to face me again.

“Both were times of tremendous upheaval for my kind, and Maebowns were instrumental in quelling them. Upheaval, death, entire human cities lost, the last war raged for two centuries. While Ozara brokered the peace agreement, it was sealed by the sacrifice of the Celt,
Áedán. The same was true five thousand years ago, with the Egyptian Maebown, Surero
.

“Sacrifice? So they both died to end a Fae war?” I asked.

“They both died to prevent the annihilation of my kind and yours. I’ve told you too many macabre stories for one morning, so today I won’t tell you anything else about Surero and
Áedán. We’ll leave them for some other time.” He studied my face. “Besides, n
ot all Fae agree with me.”

“They don’t agree with what? Gavin, stop speaking in riddles.”

“I don’t see the appearance of a Maebown as a good thing, necessarily. I believe there is a natural balance in the universe, and a Maebown appears only when there is a great need.” He had a serious look on his face. “It has never been a good sign.”

“And if I’m a Maebown—would it be better if I failed a trial?

“No. If you happen to be a Maebown, there’s a reason. If you’re meant to be a Maebown, you’re a Maebown. The trials are not designed to give you an inclination. They are designed to awaken you to the inclination you already possess. I hope you’re not a Maebown.”

I was concerned and he could sense it.

“Maggie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I think you’re incredibly talented and will have two, perhaps three inclinations. The odds of you being a Maebown are so small they’re hardly worth mentioning. And remember, many of my kind disagree with my interpretation. I could be completely wrong,” he said before flashing a perfect smile.

I knew I wasn’t going to get another drop of information out of him about Aether or Maebowns this morning. “I’m getting hungry, so why don’t you come up to the cottage and eat some lunch with me.”

He stood up and we made our way back to the trailhead down the beach. On the way, I asked him whether he got tired of taking human form for years at a time.

“Spending time in this form is no worse for me than it is for you to wear a Halloween costume for a couple of hours, but we aren’t in physical form the entire time. We change back whenever possible.”

“Oh,” I said, smiling.

“So, have you been practicing?”

I knew he meant manipulating stone. “No, not yet.”

“Well, I think you should practice a little each day. It’s the only way to develop your abilities. What they haven’t told you, Maggie, is that our ability to alter energy isn’t any stronger than yours. It simply comes more intuitively to us, and we do get longer to practice.”
Yeah, no duh!

“Manipulating energy is as easy as breathing if you understand how it works—if you learn how to attune yourself with the element.” He stopped and picked up a reddish-brown stone the size of a baseball and handed it to me.

“Well, thanks,” I joked.

He ignored my humor and gave me instructions on how to develop my understanding of the Earth element.

“Devin showed you that all things in this world have unique patterns of energy. If you focus, and that begins with calming yourself, you will learn to … for lack of a better word …
feel
those patterns.”

Gavin said that with practice I’d learn to develop an awareness of the patterns in everything that comprises the Earth element, and that recognizing it would become second nature.

“When that happens, you can channel the energy through yourself—Earth energy has a calming quality for Fae and humans alike. Some use it to heal, and some simply use it to relax.” He started walking again. “I want you to focus on these things every day. Take a good look at the stone. Memorize it.”

I looked at it and focused back on him.

“No, Maggie, I want you to memorize the shape, the texture, and all the imperfections—every nuance.”

I stopped walking for a moment and studied it, rolling it around in my hands with my eyes closed. An image of it formed in my mind as I ran my fingers over it. When I opened my eyes, he took it from me. In his hand it changed shape and became oblong, rough and chipped. Then it turned blue-gray.

“Okay, I want you to change the stone back,” he said, placing it in my hands.

“I can’t …”

“Just close your eyes,” he interrupted, “and imagine what it looked like a few moments ago.”

“Okay,” I said.

In my mind I saw the stone again, round and smooth, reddish-brown.

“Good, now calm yourself completely, like you did in the cave. Just imagine the stone changing its shape and color in your hand.”

I relaxed and took regular deep breaths, and then I did what he said. Immediately I could feel the stone change shape, back to the way it looked a few moments earlier and exactly as I pictured it. He touched the stone with his index finger and it morphed back into a rough, oblong, gray stone.

“Great, now it’s all up to you to change the stone back.”

I closed my eyes and repeated the process, but the stone didn’t change this time.

He smiled and said, “Practice! You remember feeling the energy patterns in the cave?”

“That was an illusion.”

He shook his head. “No, it was altered so that you could perceive it with your undeveloped senses. The pattern was there, and it is in that rock—it’s as obvious to me as the sunlight. You know what to look for, so look.”

We walked up the path to the cottage. As we climbed the path, he asked me another question.

“So, you want me to be your
Treoraí—does that mean you’re giving the prospect of staying in Arkansas a second thought?”
h
e asked.

“You know I want to leave?”

“The images and emotions that have been running through your mind are pretty clear.”

I guess Devin wasn’t exaggerating.

“I’m still undecided, but defin
i
tely keeping an open mind.”
Wow, things have changed quickly in twenty-four hours—having Gavin as my life-long guide makes Arkansas a lot more attractive. Maybe even a game changer.