Faery Worlds - Six Complete Novels (132 page)

I cringed. I never showed any true interest in it before, so her question was a legitimate one. “Since I spotted some neat trails on my way home from school once,” I responded, cringing at my fabricated reasoning.

Both my parents looked at me as if I had gone crazy. Well,
crazier
.

“Hiking trails?” they both said together.

“Yeah,” I waved my hand around, the sleeve of my lime-green rain jacket flapping against my wrist, “it’s really nice down there. You should check it out sometime.”

My parents looked slightly baffled, but they both shrugged it off and got back to reading their magazines.

“Okay, well have fun honey and be careful,” Mom finally said.

Hardly believing I made it out of that one with my intelligence intact, I scurried through the front door and walked down to the road. I squeezed past the
Dead End
sign and began my descent into the swamp. I made sure I could feel the can of pepper spray in my pocket and kept my senses alert. Halfway to my destination it started raining again. Most of the moisture was caught and stopped by the eucalyptus trees above, but by the time I had the clearing in my sights, rain drops speckled my raincoat like chicken pox.

Cade was waiting for me, Fergus standing loyally beside him. My heart skipped a beat and I had to squash my sudden nervousness. What was wrong with me?

Cade had on the black trench coat I remembered from before, hood flipped up. He had what looked like two walking sticks in one hand and a couple of long pouches in the other. As I moved closer, I noticed that the pouches had feathery branches sticking out of them. No, not branches: arrows. I eyed the staves he was holding. A long string looped around the top of each of them and trailed loosely to the ground. Oh. Bows. I thought bows were supposed to be curved . . .

I’m sure the look I gave him held puzzlement, because he smiled. He had smiled at me before, that time at the beach when he told me what I was and a few times before that, but I had never noticed the small dimple before. Suddenly, my legs felt slightly weak and I forgot all about my irritation at his long absence or all those questions I was going to ask.

I cleared my throat and pointed at the bows, taking my eyes away from his. “Um, shouldn’t those be curved?”

Cade laughed lightly and it didn’t do anything to help my posture. Cursed, weak legs . . .

“They will be,” was all he said.

He set the quivers and the smaller bow aside and abruptly placed the stringed end of the bow against one foot, passing it behind his other leg. Then, using his right leg for support, he bent the bow and slipped the other loop into place. When he stepped out of the bow, it looked the way it should.

“The wood is what gives it its flex.”

He demonstrated by pulling the string back but not releasing it. “The strongest yew wood available.”

It was rather impressive, I had to admit.

“So,” I said, clearing my throat, “you called me down here to play Robin Hood? Because I actually had a few questions for you, well, more than a few, but what I need to know most is why am I being stalked by a raven that wants to kill me?”

The light in Cade’s eyes faded and his jaw tightened. He nodded infinitesimally and sighed. “I know about the raven and what happened on the bridge,” he said, “that’s why I’ve brought the bows. We’re starting your training right away.”

Training? But I was more curious about how he knew about the raven, so I asked him.

Cade merely shot a quick glance at Fergus. Ah, so maybe he could communicate telepathically with his dog. But how had Fergus known? Had he been following me too? I decided that at this point, it was probably best just to believe anything was possible.

Cade leaned his own bow up against a tree and reached for the smaller one, apparently done with the Q and A portion of our conversation. “It is much more convenient to fight any faelah creatures when you can pick them off from a distance.”

He handed the bow out to me, smiling again as he did so. He really needed to stop doing that. I figured I was going to have a hard enough time stringing the bow. It wouldn’t help if my legs were perpetually turning into jelly.

Cade showed me how to string and unstring the bow and although it was a struggle, I managed on my own after awhile. He had to step in close to me for the first several times and although his closeness made my heart beat in my throat, I won’t say I didn’t enjoy it.

After our bows were strung, Cade pulled out two pairs of special gloves he told me should always be worn when practicing archery. Mine were much smaller than his, but they fit me perfectly.

“Now, the arrows that we’ll be using are practice ones. I’ll bring you some rowan wood arrows next time.”

“Rowan wood?”

Cade nodded as he nocked one of his arrows. “Rowan helps ward against evil.”

I nodded. I guess I hadn’t done enough research after all.

Silence followed Cade’s explanation as he focused and drew his bowstring far enough back that the feathers of the arrow brushed his cheek. He must have come early because about a hundred yards away I noticed an old piece of cloth pinned against a grassy berm, its center painted with a red and white target.

I waited patiently as Cade breathed deeply, focusing on his task. Fergus panted beside us and the light rain had become an annoying drizzle. Finally, Cade released the arrow and the bowstring splattered moisture on both of us. The arrow flew straight, whooshing through the air and lodging deeply into the center of the target.

I felt my jaw drop.
That
was impressive. I looked at Cade, my eyes wide, but he merely gazed at the distant target, his face looking slightly grim as he nodded once and reached for another arrow.

“You will not always have that much time to focus on your target, so it is important that you learn to shoot quickly.”

I gaped at him. That was it? No smile or grunt of approval? If he had been any of the jocks at my high school he would be crowing as loudly as he could, trying to draw the attention of every female within a mile radius to come see his impressive feat of masculinity. But Cade wasn’t like those guys at school. No, he wasn’t like them at all . . .

“Meghan?”

I snapped out of my daydream. “Huh?”

“Are you ready to try?”

“Uh, yeah.” I bit my lip and gripped my bow.
Time to focus Meghan. You don’t want to end up shooting your new friend or yourself in the foot.

Cade handed me an arrow, then shocked me by stepping behind me and putting his left hand on my forearm and his other hand over the one I was using to grip the bowstring. I swallowed and forced myself to breathe through my nose. He could easily rest his chin on the top of my head if he wished, and I almost thought he was going to.

“Now,” he murmured, just loud enough for me to hear him.

He was so close I could feel the vibration of his voice in his chest; the heat coming off his body. I gulped down my nervousness.

“Nock the arrow first and use your left hand, the one gripping the bow, as a rest for the arrow. Your glove will protect your hand. Hook your first three fingers over the string, keeping the nock of the arrow between your index and middle finger.”

Carefully, he used his own hands to guide mine. His touch was gentle, but reassuring, and it took every fiber of muscle in my legs to keep my knees from buckling.

He tightened his right hand over mine.

“Now, draw the string back as far as you can. For now, don’t draw it all the way to your cheek.”

Cade pulled the string back with me, only bringing it to a point just in front of my nose. As I waited for his next instruction, I took advantage of his close proximity. Although he didn’t quite touch me, I could feel his presence mere inches away from my back. The pleasant earthy scent that always accompanied him filled my senses and the rhythm of his calm breathing almost kept pace with my heartbeat. Unfortunately, my heart was trying to run a marathon right then.

“Keep your arms steady and keep a hold of the arrow.”

Slowly, he released my arm and hand, backing away to leave me standing on my own. A pang of disappointment and longing followed after him, but I stubbornly reminded myself that he was trying to teach me archery in order to defend myself against the creepy crawlies of the Otherworld. An image of the little gnomes that had chased after me a handful of months ago and the memory of my near-death experience on the swinging bridge forced my focus back onto the task at hand.

“When I say so, release the bowstring.”

Cade gave me the signal and I let loose the string. It slapped against the leather of my other glove and the arrow went sailing, though not nearly as far as his own.

I slumped my shoulders in disappointment. How pathetic I must look to him.

“Good!” Cade called from behind me.

I turned around and looked at him, my eyebrows raised. “Really?”

He smiled again, curse him. “Your arrow flew forward, didn’t it?”

For a while I felt that tingle of self-consciousness again, but when I gave him a closer look, I realized he was teasing me.

I gasped in mock outrage and crossed my arms. He only laughed.

“We’ll just stick to archery today. Later, we’ll get into hand to hand combat. But if you can take your enemy out with an arrow, that would be best. Some of the creatures of the Otherworld have poisonous skin and horns that could really hurt you if they get a hold of you.”

I shivered at the thought of those little gnomes or that red demon-squirrel clinging to my legs or wrapping their arms around me. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be as gentle or smell as good as Cade.

We spent the remains of the morning plunking arrows into the target. Cade played the role of the perfect instructor, never being too hard on me and never trying to sugar-coat my ego. We kept our conversation strictly business: only questions about archery and defense against Otherworldly creatures. I wanted so badly to ask him normal every day questions, like who his parents were, if he ever went to school in the Otherworld, what kind of music he liked. If he had a girlfriend . . .

I bit my lip and got back to aiming an arrow. I told myself that this was not the time to ask such questions, but if I was being honest, it was only because I was afraid to ask him. He might think I was nosy or give me answers I didn’t want to hear.

Cade walked me home after our practice, well, he walked me to the oak tree we used as our own personal mail box, but in my mind it was as good as walking me home. He stopped and leaned against the tree and I turned to face him. He looked pensive, as if his mind was a world away. I laughed inwardly. It probably was a world away, or an
Other
world away.

I cleared my throat and decided to break the awkward silence. “I appreciate all you are doing for me, really I do. But I still have a lot of questions, you know.”

He nodded, but didn’t move from where he stood. The bows, both unstrung, he had leaned against the tree and the quivers with them.

“I can’t answer all of your questions Meghan, but I will answer those that I’m permitted to.”

I thought that was weird. “What do you mean those that you are permitted to?”

He winced, so insignificantly that I almost didn’t see it, and then let out a worrisome sigh. He met my eyes, his own dark green and shifting towards brown. “It’s complicated,” he said.

Oh, like I hadn’t heard
that
excuse before. I crossed my arms and arched my brow. His grin didn’t help in my determination to look domineering.

He pushed away from the tree and stepped forward, stopping a foot away from me and forcing me to crane my neck back to see his face. I couldn’t imagine anyone not permitting him to do anything.

“Okay, fine, what about the raven then. It tried to push me over the edge of a bridge. I know it is Otherworldly because it has been following me.”

Cade blanched and took a step back. I took that as a bad sign.

“You are correct in surmising the raven is Otherworldly. It is an enemy and you need to avoid it at all costs.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Why? Why is it trying to kill me?”

Cade shrugged and actually looked guilty. “I don’t know yet. All that I know is that it plans on trying again.”

Before I could demand that he tell me how he knew all this, I heard Bradley’s voice call out from our backyard somewhere.

“Meghan! Is that you down there?”

Cursing, I turned to see if my annoying brothers had been spying. Apparently Bradley had only heard my voice. I turned to address Cade one last time, but he was already ducking behind the oak tree. He had grabbed his bow and quiver, but not mine. I arched a brow at him.

“Keep them Meghan. In case you need them.”

And then he and Fergus slipped into the woods the way a garter snake disappears into a field of tall grass.

I gazed at the bow and quiver. Where on earth was I going to store these where my parents and brothers wouldn’t find them? I decided to hide them behind the tree for now. I would clean out a spot in the back of my closet where no one, me included, ever went. If I were to take them up right now, my brothers would see them for sure and the questions would never cease.

Sighing, I trudged up the hill and called out ahead of me so Bradley would hear, “Yeah, just got back.”

I still had plenty of questions that hadn’t been answered, and I was slightly annoyed that I had let Cade charm me out of my common sense, but what was done was done. I would just have to be careful not to let myself get so beguiled next time.
Just don’t look into his eyes Meghan; don’t look at his mouth when he smiles. Focus on something else.

But I knew now more than ever that there wasn’t a single place on Cade MacRoich that wouldn’t leave me gaping like a groupie at my first concert. Perhaps it was that Otherworld glamour he had mentioned that made him so irresistible. Or maybe I was just a complete and utter fool.

-Fifteen-

Confession

The New Year passed and along with it the remains of the winter season. I didn’t see Cade for weeks after our break, but I had the memory of spending time with him in the swamp to keep me warm during those cold days. I had hidden the bow and arrows in the back of my closet, just as I had planned, then got back to my routine of checking the oak tree on a daily basis. Okay, maybe more like an hourly basis. Three days after our practice, I found two old, leather-bound books at the base of the tree with a note attached to them.