Born Of Nothing

11

“I appreciate that, but I’m not actually going to stay with you. I just need to tell my mom I’ll be at your place.” There was silence on the line for a moment, and I wondered if the line had gone dead. “Cat, it’s not a good idea to lie to your mother.” Her tone had changed, dropping with a hint of warning. “I know, but this is really important to me, and I don’t have any other friends or family to go to. I need your help.” “We’re family,” she asserted firmly. I paused for a breath, surprised at her conviction. “Yeah, I suppose we are. So, can I tell my mom I’ll be with you?” “I’m happy to help; family is everything.” Her voice became whimsical again, and I shook my head, wondering if she was hitting the sauce a little too heavily. “Right … thanks, Aileen. Talk to you soon.” Our conversation had gone as most any of our exchanges—sort of like seeing your gynecologist outside of the clinic. You want to be pleasant but can hardly get past the awkward tension of knowing they’ve had their face in your girl bits. Aileen wasn’t who I would pick to live with, but I was easy going enough that I didn’t think it would be a problem, assuming her change in behavior wasn’t drug related. I snapped back to the present, remembering Becca’s comment that Aileen sounded cool and I rolled my eyes over to Becca. “One time she collected a jar of butterflies and glued them each to a string that was attached to a small cutout of Peter Pan. She said she was helping Peter fly like Tinker Bell.” “Holy crap! That’s not weird, it’s insane.” “Tom-a-to, tom-ah-to.” “Well, I’m glad you got an alibi, and I’m sorry to drag you into this. I told Lochlan I was staying with Ashley tonight, so my car needed to be parked back home.” “Don’t you always stay with Ashley, you know, since you live together?” I asked with confusion. Becca gave a shy smirk, and her hands fiddled with her sleeve. “Lochlan asked me to move in with him a while back, so I’ve been staying with him as I move my stuff.” “Rebecca Peterson!” I said in a chastising gasp. “How is it you haven’t told me this already?” She shrugged sheepishly. “It all happened kind of fast, and it just didn’t come up. I’m still adjusting to the idea myself.” “That’s so exciting! I’m really happy for you.” “I am too, and I feel bad not telling Lochlan what I’m doing, but I don’t want to put him in the middle. As the Erlking, he and Queen Guin have a tenuous relationship at best. If she finds out he was a part of Fenodree’s escape, it could lead to war. Hopefully she’ll never know Fen got away, but if she figures it out, I want Lochlan to be able to honestly say he was not involved. Ashley is in the same boat, except she’s even more vulnerable—it wouldn’t take much for the queen to revoke her free pass to live here on Earth.” “I wonder what it is about Merlin’s relationship with the queen that she grants him the freedom to roam?” I mused, knowing none of us had a concrete answer. “Lochlan says Merlin uses his power to help both the queen and the Hunt, so I can only assume she needs to stay in his good graces. I’m just glad he claimed Ashley as his apprentice so that the queen would grant Ashley the same privileges as Merlin, but that all hinges on the queen not changing her mind. Should the queen decide to push the issue, Ashley would have to go. I was the whole reason Ashley got dragged into this life, and I’d never forgive myself if she was forced to live in Faery.” I didn’t fully understand why the Faery Queen had erected her magical wards a thousand years ago to keep our races separate, but I knew it was definitely for the best. There were entirely too many nasty creatures in Faery to allow free travel between the worlds. The huntsmen were the only group of Fae who were exempted from her wards. The group had long ago established their autonomy from the queen bet maintained a long-standing truce with the Seelie monarch. “At least you’re in the clear,” I offered hopefully. “With your power to use the Twilight Realm, it’s not like the queen could stop you from going where you pleased.” “I’m not so sure about that. I’d be more worried that if Guin wanted to stop me, she’d simply send someone after my head. I try not to think about those possibilities. The man we’re helping, Fenodree, he taught me what no one else could, and he was under no obligation to do so. I was in the center of a violent storm, tasked with stopping Morgan Le Fay, one of the most powerful Fae alive, before she unleashed hordes of vicious Fae on Earth and Seelie Lands. I have no doubt that had Fen not helped me, I would not have survived my clash with Morgan. I owe my life to Fen, and the least I can do is try to return the favor,” she replied firmly. Her experience had been far more dramatic than mine, but I still felt that I understood her conviction. Rebecca’s friendship had shed a light into my life that I hadn’t known I was missing. I knew helping her might make my life more difficult, but she was worth the risk. “I think what you’re doing for this man is inspiring. I want to hear more about him, but first, where exactly am I going?” “Sorry! To Strabane, he’s staying at a hotel there. We could have made a day trip if we could have gone on a weekend. I want to be able to run to any stores or help him tomorrow morning if there is anything he needs.” I flicked on my blinker before making the nearest turn in the proper direction. “What else can you tell me about Fenodree?” “I didn’t mean to be secretive, I just didn’t want to talk about him at work in case anyone overheard. The Seelie know little about Shadow Fae magic, and since my magic was largely based on those darker powers, we had to find someone who either was Shadow Fae or knew enough about them to teach me. Fen had been exiled to the Shadow Lands for hundreds of years—” “Hundreds?” I cut in, too shocked to stop myself from interrupting. “Yeah,” she confirmed sadly. “I’m not sure what you know about the Shadow Lands, but it’s dark and dreary, and he lived a life of total solitude.” I had whined about being sheltered, but this man had his entire life stripped from him. I sat quietly for some time as I wrapped my mind about how someone would survive what he had experienced. Would he be jaded and bitter after living such a difficult life? Surely not if Rebecca was willing to risk so much to save him. What had his life been like? How would I have handled being exiled to another land where I had to live entirely alone? I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly but being alone for hundreds of years was enough to make even a hermit crazy.