Found: A Sage Hollins Novel

CHAPTER FIVE

"Honey, has Sage seemed off to you?" I asked my husband. The man was pretty much oblivious to any odd-behaviors a teen girl might have, but I felt compelled to ask anyway. 

"What do you mean?" he peeked his eyes up over his glasses at me. He seemed tired. Hunched over a hundred year old book as he worked at repairing the binding, I admired him. My husband, my soulmate. 

"She just seems out of sorts. She has been hiding away in her room, not eating much and I can't shake this feeling that she is keeping something from me." I pulled a chair up beside him at the desk where he was working. 

"Now Maggie, Sage never keeps secrets. She's a good girl." His voice was firm, but I held my ground. 

"I know she's a good girl, Max. That's why I'm worried. She's not like other teens her age...she's honest and good hearted. It's not like her to be so reclusive from us."

"Could it be that she's finally just hit that age? She's coming into adulthood, love. Maybe she's starting to mentally prepare herself to leave the nest. I know she was considering leaving for college." 

I shook my head, "Max, she never had any intention of leaving for college, and we both know that. She was just trying to humor Papa. You know how badly he wanted her to move closer to him. No, this is different. Something is going on." 

"I'm sure everything is fine, darling. Have you tried to talk to her?"

I rolled my eyes, something I almost never do. "Of course I have. She just keeps saying, 'I'm fine, Mom.' That's code for, 'Something's wrong, mom.' Max, this is our girl I'm talking about. I'm worried." I looked into his eyes, hoping to find answers. 

"Well, if you're that concerned, then I am too. What would you like me to do?" he set his tools down and lay a hand over mine on the table. 

I leaned forward and rested my forehead on his, "Thank you...will you talk to her? Maybe she just needs her father."

"Of course, my love. Of course." 

I left him back to his project, letting him resume his focus. I knew there was something wrong with my daughter, a mother can just sense it. I made my way through the aisles of the library, hoping to see my girl tucked up against the shelves, nose tucked in the pages of a new book. But there was no sign of her...probably still hiding in her room...

I heard a ding from the check-out desk and I shuffled over. Usually on Friday's I would ask Sage to cover the counter but she'd barely emerged the last five days, let alone made conversation with me. 

At the counter stood a curly haired blonde boy, holding a World War 2 text book. He was a beautiful boy, probably around Sage's age. I wondered if they went to school together. 

"Hi, how can I help you?" I asked with a forced smile. I wanted to be friendly, but my mind was elsewhere. 

"H-hi...I just need to return this book." he slowly began to hand me the text but just as I reached for it he pulled it back, "Oh, and I wanted to ask...there was a girl here the other day when I checked it out. She helped me find it. Is she here?" 

My eyes narrowed, "Sage? She's not working today." I put my hand back out for the book.

He handed it to me and as he did my hand brushed his. That's when I knew...

"Who are you? What do you want with my daughter?" I felt anger bubbling up within me.

"Uh...I just wanted to thank her for her help. Without this book I would have bombed my history final." he lied. 

"Who are you?" I demanded again.

He seemed uncomfortable, and there was a sadness in his eyes. 

"My name is-"

"Reid...?" Behind the boy stood Sage, looking bewildered. 

                                                                                        SAGE

I had wandered down to the library to find something to read. Anything to take my mind off of the constant thought of the boy I'd met days earlier. I knew I had to be going crazy. Maybe years of suppressing perfectly normal teen hormones had finally caught up with me. The dreams hadn't let up, if anything they had become more intense. Every morning my eyes snapped open, right after I murmured his name. The name he never told me, but I somehow knew...maybe it wasn't his name. Maybe it was a name I'd read in one of my books, and it had just stuck with me. 

But there he was, in all his beautiful glory. Speaking with my mother of all people, who looked oddly upset. And when I said his name, he turned to meet my eyes with fire in his own.

"Sage..." he whispered. 

He looked so lost and sad, and I couldn't understand why. We'd only met for a moment and the interaction wouldn't seem very memorable to most people. 

"Sage," my mother said sternly, "Go back upstairs. Now." 

My gaze drifted from the beautiful boy before me, "What?" 

"I said, go upstairs, now." 

She sounded angry, which was something new. She was never angry, she was calm, peaceful. Why did she seem so angry now?

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Ma'am, I really need to talk to her...it's important-" his cool voice seeped into me. What did he need to talk to me about? 

"I said go upstairs right now!" she boomed. 

I stepped back, "I-Mom...I don't understand..."

In my entire eighteen years I had never heard my mother shout. The closest she had ever gotten was a small shriek when a spider spooked her in the kitchen. 

"So help me, if I repeat myself one more time, Sage Evelynn, you will wish you never came down here to begin with!" she was hollering at me now and I felt panic override my intense desire to stay and be close to this boy. This boy who'd overpowered my dreams and my mind.

I looked back at him and mouthed, "I'm sorry."

He responded with a whisper, "We'll talk soon, I promise."

With one more glance at my fuming mother, I darted back down the aisle of books. 

I wouldn't be going upstairs though, no I needed to hear what would come next. I raced off as if I were going back towards the elevator that led to our upstairs home and took a sharp right down the fantasy aisle. I couldn't help but think to myself, 'how befitting of the circumstances...'

I tiptoed until I was only a few shelves away from them, just close enough to hear what they were saying.

"I will ask you one final time, who are you? And I expect you to tell me the truth." my mother's voice was sharp, cold. Not the warm, loving woman who had raised me.

The boy paused, weighing his response. 

"My name is Reid." My stomach filled with butterflies, how had I known?!

"I gathered as much when my daughter said your name. Who.Are.You?! What do you want with her?!" 

I scooched closer to hear better, as my mother had dropped her tone to hysteric whispers. 

"I-See, here's the thing ma'am. I never told her my name...she just knew. I don't know how to say this without sounding crazy, but I've been having these dreams. Every night since I met her...and I can't help but feel like she's having them too..."

"You're a faery." 

My jaw dropped- a what?! She had said it so matter of fact. What the hell was she talking about?!

There was a dead silence that seemed to stretch on for years before finally, Reid spoke.

"Y-yes. How did you know?"

"Because I am a faery too." her voice trembled, and I could hear her fighting back tears. My heart was racing. What were they talking about?! Faeries? That was insane, that was preposterous, ridiculous, impossible! 

"With all due respect ma'am...I've never met you...I've met almost every faery in the state. I have to...I'm-"

"You're the Prince." again, so matter of fact. Faeries, princes, what was next?! My stomach was in my throat as a whirlwind of confusion swept through me. 

"Yes, I am."

"Well, your Highness. I'll ask again, what the hell do you think you want with my daughter?!" the anger had returned to her voice. Followed my what sounded like panic.

"I think she is...well no, I know she is...well ma'am, we're mated. She-she's going to be the new Queen." 

Did he just say mate?! QUEEN?! Nausea started to fill my gut, and stars started to seep into my vision. This was too much...

"NO! Absolutely not! I left that life behind! I will not see my daughter get sucked into the chaos that is the fae realm! I know what happens to your Queens after they are no longer of use to their Kings! NO. Go find yourself a new mate because you sure as hell cannot have my child!" she was nearly screaming now, as the bile rose up in my throat.

"You don't understand, we don't get a choice. The Moon Goddess chooses-"

"Oh shut up! I know all about your god damn conspiracies with the Moon Goddess! I was an acting faery for one hundred fifty years! I don't buy it for a second!"

Did she say one hundred fifty years?! My legs were starting to wobble.

"Listen to me!" he roared, the first time he had raised his voice, "In the last 5,000 years there has only been one case of a mated pair not completing the bond. It did not end well for them..." he trailed off and I heard sadness in his tone.

"We will take her far away from here before we ever let anything happen to her." mother said curtly.

"You can't. You can't protect her from this."

"What-and you can? Don't tell me how to protect my child!"

"I would do anything to protect her from this, ma'am. But I cannot. They died. Both of them. The Queen died within five months of the bond being invoked. The King died directly after he sired an heir. The Moon Goddess is real, and she demands that her traditions be upkept."

My mother gasped, and I...well I could hold myself up no longer. 

I stumbled around the corner, and whispered, "Died?" as my body slumped to the floor. Everything went black.