Zora's Dawn (Defender Book 1) (14 page)

Reaching
her room she put the puzzle out of her mind for the time being. She hoped there
was an ensuite so she could take a long shower, or maybe a bath would be
better? The resident guard opened the door and ushered her in which was when
Zora received her biggest shock of the day.

“What do
you mean we share a room?! That’s crazy!”

Powers
sighed; he was sitting in one of the two wing back chairs situated by the
window in the huge room Zora had been escorted to, only to find Powers already
in residence. “Remember what Axel said, I am to be with you at all times? He meant
it, and that means sharing a room. There’s no point in having a hissy fit about
it, Axel has orders from his mother the Queen. We are going to be spending a
LOT of time together until this is finished.”

“That’s
ridiculous! We can’t share a room!”

“Why are
you so bent out of shape? It’s just a room, there are two beds for heaven’s
sake.”

Zora
couldn’t explain why she felt so disturbed about sharing with Powers, she just
knew that she did. Yes it was a massive room but it still seemed far too
intimate for her. However he was right, there was no going against the orders
of the Fairy Queen so she was going to have to get used to it. But it didn’t
mean she liked it.

Resolutely
not looking at Powers she explored the room, opening a door set against the
back wall and sighing with pleasure as it turned out to be a large and well-appointed
ensuite. At least one thing was going right.

She
stiffened her back and assumed what she hoped was a pleasant expression before
turning to face Powers. “Ok, you’re right. It’ll be fine so long as you don’t
snore. I’ll take this bed,” indicating the bed closest to the ensuite, “If you
don’t mind.”

Visibly
relieved Powers acceded with a smile. “That’s perfect, I should have the bed
closest to the door and the window, as I am your Guardian.” Zora sniffed, like
they were going to need to worry about any sort of attack in one of the Fairy
Queen’s residences. But hey, if it made him feel better whatever. She was going
to take a shower, which would make her feel better.

Exactly
one hour later Zora was back at the door to the drawing room. She was feeling
what she was pretty sure was stage fright, her stomach was in knots and she
felt sick. Axel had made the decision to come here instead of going to Melbourne,
and who knew what was happening in that city. What if she could not see
anything here and meanwhile some innocent person was being slaughtered
somewhere else? She wanted this to be over and hoped everyone else was already
there, including the driver.

That hope
was not realised on opening the door. There was only Axel in the room talking
to a complete stranger – maybe the driver? The newcomer was a small slip of a
girl, with black hair styled in a pixie cut which suited her small narrow face
and pointed chin. She had large grey eyes framed by long thick lashes and was
surrounded by a general air of suppressed energy. She was casually dressed in
jeans and a bright orange t-shirt. Zora hesitated just in the door, wondering
if she was interrupting.

Without
looking up Axel said, “Little Zora, please come in and meet our driver.”
Standing, her came over to Zora and ushered her closer.

The girl
also stood and stuck out her hand as they approached. “Hi there Zora, you must
be the defender that all the fuss is about. I’m Shax Snow, your driver. Well
strictly speaking I’m Axel’s driver but we both know he doesn’t need to drive
anywhere but you’re human so

you’re
going to need me so that means I’m really your driver, right?”

Zora
blinked a few times as she processed the rapid fire barrage of words. “Um, I
guess? I mean I don’t know where the site is and I’m out of practice driving in
the city so it’ll be good to have someone who knows what she’s doing.” Ignoring
what was becoming a trademark snort from Axel (what was that about this time?)
she took the proffered hand. “Nice to meet you Miss Snow.”

The girl
shook her hand with a firm grip and a lot of enthusiasm. “Shax, just Shax will
be fine and I look forward to taking you wherever you need to go. All of you of
course but you’re the superhero here right?”

Zora was
feeling rather bemused. She was a superhero? “I don’t think so, I don’t even
really know what I’m doing. But thank you.”

Shax
grinned and plopped back into her chair. “Oh none of us know what we are doing,
that’s for sure! Don’t worry, it’ll all come to you when you need it.”

Axel
startled Zora with an outright laugh. “She’s right there Zora, we don’t know
what we are doing, hmmmm Shax?” Shax glared at him and he obligingly arranged
his face into his usual mildly amused expression.

Zora
looked from Axel to Shax – who clearly knew each other quite well - but neither
of them seemed interested in continuing so she sat down to wait for the others,
and almost levitated when she felt something soft and furry brush against her
legs. With an undignified squeak and an awkward manoeuvre she pulled her legs
up underneath her and peered down to see what had touched her. She was hugely embarrassed
to see it was a cat, looking up at her in feline astonishment. Axel and Shax
laughed hugely at her behaviour but before Zora could say anything in an
attempt to redeem herself the door opened and Powers and Sunny came in.

They both
stopped when they saw Shax who jumped up with what Zora felt was probably her
usual high level of energy and introduced herself. Zora half watched them but
most of her attention was on the cat which had jumped into her lap and was
staring at her in a most disquieting fashion. It was a beautiful creature, pure
white except for two black mascara lines that highlighted its spectacular green
eyes and ran to just below its ears. Its coat was short, smooth and immaculate.
Zora tentatively reached out to pat it and was rewarded by loud purr. She
smoothed her hand from its head to its tail, marvelling at the beautiful soft
coat.

The cat
reached up and booped her gently on the chin, and Zora fell in love. It stared
into her face like it was searching her mind. Of course that was completely
fanciful, it was probably just assessing whether she would continue to pat it.
Still, Zora wondered if it would be allowed for the cat to sleep in her room
tonight. She was feeling like they were establishing a deep feline/person
relationship when Sunny laughed at something Shax said.

The cat
swivelled its head, stared at Sunny for a few seconds and then looked back to
Zora. With an apologetic head boop it jumped off her lap and headed straight
for Sunny. As Zora watched she noticed that Axel was also watching with deep
intensity, as was Shax she realised. Something was going on, but what?

The cat
reached Sunny and sat at her feet, staring up at her. Sunny looked down, her
expression shocked. Zora blinked, surely she was misreading that. One does not
look shocked to see a cat, unless of course one has a phobia. Did Sunny have a
cat phobia? Powers looked at the cat and then at Sunny. He looked at Shax and
Axel in turn, his expression both surprised and questioning. Zora barely
noticed, her attention was on the tableau Sunny and the cat were presenting.

The blue
aura that she always saw around Sunny was elongating, winding around the cat.
The cat she realised with surprise had an aura of its own. Cats had auras? She
really, really needed to research this. This cat had a blend of purple and red,
mostly purple. As Zora watched the colours of the cat’s aura mingled with those
of Sunny. How weird, what exactly did it mean? Sunny and the cat remained
completely focused on each other. It was almost like they were communing on
some other plane.

Then the
cat jumped into Sunny’s arms, Sunny catching it easily. It climbed up her arm
and arranged itself around her neck, staring out at them all with glowing green
eyes. As Zora watched their combined auras retreated, each back to just their
own. However Sunny retained flashes of purple and red, and the cat had flashes
of blue. What had just happened?

Shax
clapped her hands in excitement. “Finally that cat has found her human! I’ve
been carting that ungrateful creature around with me for weeks! And do you know
how hard it is to transport a cat that far?”

Zora asked
the question nobody else seemed interested in. “Where did you come from?”

Hands
planted on slender hips as she stared at the cat which stared back at her
haughtily, Shax replied, “Egypt. I’ve been living there for quite a while. She
came up to me in the street, dirty and bedraggled, eyes begging for help. Of
course I took her in, cleaned her up and fed her and she’s been with me since,
waiting to find her person.”

It was
like talking to Axel, more questions than answers. Zora focused on the obvious.
“How did you get her here? Australia wouldn’t allow an animal in that easily
I’m sure.”

Shax
laughed. “For sure not, it would have been next to impossible through the usual
channels. But you know, for a witch there are always other options.”

Zora gaped
at her, belatedly remembering to use her handy aura checker thingy. She focused
on Shax and as she did so a deep purple aura flared around her. It almost
completely purple but had flashes of red and yellow in it as well. It was very
bright now that she saw it. But of course she had no idea what it meant. Back
to conversation.

“You’re a
witch? So how did you get the cat here? And what do you mean waiting to find
her person?”

Shax
looked a little surprised. “You didn’t know I’m a witch? Oh but of course
you’re new, there’s a lot still to learn. But don’t worry, it’ll all come fast
now. So, yes I’m a witch and that means I can travel kind of like these guys
do, except that I use spells to make it happen. So we travelled via spellcraft.
It’s pretty draining actually, I’m rather pleased I’ve had recovery time while
waiting for you to come. I mean I knew you were coming, and I knew you had
Sabrina’s person with you. I thought you were one and the same, and I think she
did too for a while. But she was just picking up on your otherness I think. She
didn’t talk to you did she?”

“Talk? The
cat? You mean meow? No she was silent.”

Shax
grinned. “No I mean talk, like inside your head, like Axel can do when he
chooses.”

Zora
stared at her, not sure whether to be shocked or just take it in her stride.
After all, it was no stranger than anything else that had happened. She looked
at Axel who grinned happily back. “So far I haven’t had need to mind speak with
you little Zora, but now you know I can at least it won’t come as a shock to
you!”

Ok then.
Back to the cat. “So this cat, Sabrina? She can mind speak?”

Shax
smiled ruefully.  “She never shuts up really. You’ll find out now Sunny, she’ll
drive you crazy!” Sunny was looking as shell shocked as Zora felt. Seeing that
Shax told her, “You and I can talk about this whole witch thing when we get
back Sunny. I think Axel is anxious to get going. Zora, Sabrina can mind speak,
and she might do so with you as you have an affinity, I think because of your
link to this hunky shifter. But she has been waiting for her person, or if you
like her familiar. All witches have a familiar, as I’m sure you know. Mine is
my idiot dog that’s currently in the kitchen begging for food. He’s not been
too thrilled to have Sabrina along I can tell you! Sunny, Sabrina has found you
at the right time, as all familiars do. I can see you are pretty new to this
all too, but don’t worry, I’m here to be your driver and also your guide.
You’re safe with me!”

Zora and
Sunny both just stared. Once again the world had shifted beneath Zora’s feet
and this time Sunny’s too judging by the completely stunned expression on her
face. Sabrina touched her nose gently to Sunny’s cheek and Sunny relaxed a
little. Zora felt pretty envious of that. Sunny got a cool and beautiful cat
and she got grumpy Powers. Mind you he was a wizard in the kitchen which counted
for a lot. Probably all Sabrina would prepare for Sunny would be a mouse or rat
or something else disgusting like that.

Axel
laughed, Powers frowned and the fairy guard trooped into the room chatting
easily to Marcus. It was time to go. Zora wondered how they were going to get
there, they made a rather large group.

Axel
answered her unspoken question – Zora realised she was no longer surprised when
he did that. “Little Zora we do have a Tarago, but we won’t all fit of course.
So we will bring two of the fairy guard with us, Cameron and James. The others
can stay here and socialise with the resident guard. I believe you have a
cousin here Clare?” Clare nodded, her expression pleased both at being able to
stay and also, Zora assumed, that Axel cared enough about his guard to know
details such as that.

In a short
space of time they were all seated in a black Tarago, Zora and Sunny seated
next to Marcus in the middle row. Sunny was silent, whether from shock or
because she was communing with Sabrina who was ensconced on her lap Zora had no
clue. Marcus held Sunny’s hand but made no attempt to talk. He had seemed
completely unsurprised to see both Shax and Sabrina. He did seem less than
impressed with Sabrina who for her part gave him a cool stare and ignored him.
That could pose problems for a fledgling relationship Zora thought.