Painfully Ordinary Special Edition (8 page)

I scowled. “Yeah, well, I’ll try to keep up.”

“Caiti, remember all the bedtime stories I used to tell you
about fairies?” I nodded and waited for her to continue.

“Well, those were stories about me.”

Whoa,
whoa, whoa.
Wait a second.

I contemplated what she said, amazed. “The stories about
the fairy princess, who defied all the rules, left her home and married
a
Corpora
?” I
shook my head in disbelief.
“Seriously, Mom.
I’m not five
anymore. Surely, if you had fairy powers, we wouldn’t have to worry about,
well…anything. Next you are going to tell me Leah and I are fairy princesses
and there is an evil power out to get us.”

She shook her head, “I’m not Rumplestiltskin, and I can’t
weave straw into gold. Part of my punishment for marrying your father
was being forbidden
to use my powers anymore, though I still
have them. They are my birthright, and the Council couldn’t take them from me.”
She reached out to me in supplication. “There are things at work here you
simply don’t understand. There are more dangers than you can imagine.”

I was surrounded by crazy people
. I raised one eyebrow at my mom. She knew I was
challenging her. I wanted proof.

Her, voice came through my head, loud and clear.
Okay, what kind of proof do you want?

I
was filled
with surprise, but
suspicion soon took its place.

I tried to project my thoughts as well.
”Can you hear my thoughts?”

She took a step back, and then I heard her voice in my
mind.

Yes, as I suspected,
you can read other
people’s
. How did you learn to
project your voice into someone else’s mind? This is extremely complicated, and
dangerous
.

I snorted.
Dangerous?
Mother, be
serious.

Leah stared at me and clicked her tongue.

“It happened again, didn’t it?”

My mother whipped around and faced her. “
What
happened again?”

Leah shrugged her shoulders. “Caiti read your mind, didn’t
she?”

My mother gaped at her. “How did you know that?”

“She did it to me earlier.”

My mother gave us both a dazzling smile. “You two are even
better than I ever dreamed. You truly deserve your birthright and the full
truth.” She glided over to stand directly in front of us. Raising her arms
slightly, she shimmered from head to toe. Slowly, two golden wings lengthened
from her sides, until the tips extended about a foot above her head. They were
exquisite, and for once in our lives, Leah and I were speechless.

Leah extended one hand and approached her like a
sleepwalker. “Can I touch them?”

She leaned her right side toward Leah. “Absolutely, you
can’t hurt me.”

Leah caressed the wing. “They’re unbelievably soft. I’ve
never touched anything like it. It’s almost like touching air.” Her palm
was covered
with a soft sprinkle of gold dust. She spoke
excitedly.
“Pixie dust?
Really?
It’s real?”

My mom chuckled. “Yes, but I can’t fly you to
Never Land
, if that is what you are
thinking.”

I was astounded.
Wings?

That’s all I needed. As if I wasn’t a
big
enough freak already.

She seemed pensive. “There is really no way of telling if
you will have them. Your father was a
Corpora
, as you said. You show many characteristics of a “pixie”,
but only time will truly tell.”

I shot her a forlorn look. “That still doesn’t explain why
Talon took off when he saw what I could do with the stone. By the way, what are
those things called?”

She hesitated for a moment and her wings flitted nervously before
dropping back down to her sides in defeat. “They are called ley stones. For
everything else, I’m not sure where to start. What has Talon told you?”

I grimaced. “Nothing except that he is willing to lay down
his life for me, which…by the way, is slightly disconcerting. Isn’t that a
little excessive?”

“Sweetie, he is part of an ancient group called the
Turvata
. They are the elite guardians of
our world, and are devoted to protecting the royal family of the
Feydall
. The
Feydall
are what you would know as pixies or fairies. Talon is
probably very distressed and confused right now.”

I grunted. “Well, he’s not the only one!”

“Caiti you need to understand. If you truly are a
Lumina
as he suspects, our law forbids
him from having any sort of relationship with you other than the role of your protector.”

My temper flared violently. “On top of all the other shit
that has been thrown at me over the last week, including the almost abduction
by Ryan and some freak last night–you are going to tell me I can’t be with the
first person I have ever felt comfortable with in my entire life? At this
point, I can’t even be certain that he feels the same way. He
was
sent
to
protect me. He had
orders
to spend
time with me.” I was crestfallen. The stone in my hand pulsed wildly and finally
shattered, falling to my feet in a pile of sparkling emerald dust.

Mom was clearly startled. “Don’t get yourself worked up
just yet. You are only half
Feydall
. I
am not even sure that our rules pertain to you. I need to talk to Johr.”

“Oh my
God
.
Uncle Johr is in on all
this?
Is he a pixie too?”

I giggled. “Hey Leah, can you imagine Johr as a pixie?”

“Yeah, sure – all six foot five inches and about 260 pounds
of muscle of him.” I fell back on the couch cracking up. Leah put her arm
around my shoulders. She probably thought I was losing my mind.

No, I don’t
. I heard Leah’s voice clearly in my mind.

Ack!
You too?

Leah shook her head slightly and glanced pointedly at my
mom. She obviously didn’t want to clue Mom in just yet.

She continued with our silent conversation.
I wasn’t sure. This is the first time I have
tried it. I don’t know if it will work with anyone but you. It’s
pretty cool
though. We can finally talk in class without
having to stress about detention. It also leaves me with a lot of additional
questions about my real parents. Perhaps we can use our parents’ staggering
guilt to get some answers for me too.

She wagged her eyebrows.
Leave it to Leah to find a bright spot in everything. She was taking all this
much better than I was.

However, no one had called her
a
Lumina
, whatever the hell that
really meant. I mean, come on. I’m only seventeen and not prepared to deal with
something like this.

Mom patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m
going to see if I can find Johr.”

I sat down on the couch, massaging my temples again.

She
was cut off
from the door by a
bright explosion of light. The area in front of the doorway filled with sweetly
scented smoke.

As the air cleared, I gasped in recognition. There stood
Ael’onwe, Freya and Ta’-Sha in all their respective glory. Leah was awestruck,
clinging to my arm for dear life. Ael’onwe held out her arms to me.

“Come,
mi sioga íníon.”

I had an overwhelming need to make contact with her and sprang
from the couch into her arms. When she enveloped me, an instant sensation of
peace surrounded me. My mother, on the other hand, was clearly going into
shock.

“Mamó?”
Mom whispered. “It can’t be. How are you here? Better yet,
why
are you here?”

Ael’onwe stroked my hair as you would to comfort a small
child.

“My dear Marne, I am here as part of the
RuneSong
. Our little Caitlin is in
desperate need of our protection. Ta’-Sha has been watching over her for me. I
was afraid she would become suspicious of me, due to the family resemblance.”

“Family resemblance?”
I squeaked.

Mom stared at me helplessly. “Caitlin, this is your
great-grandmother.”

Eyes wide open
,
I studied Ael’onwe
. “You are?”

A serene expression spread across her face. “Yes. You may
have noticed there is a great likeness among the women in our family.”

I gestured pointedly at Freya and Ta’-Sha. “And what is
their story?”

Freya shook her head. “Our story is not important right now–it
will be revealed another time. However, you are quite clever, and it would not
surprise me if you put the pieces together on your own.”

Ta’-Sha took a step forward. “Marne, we have come to warn
you. As Ael’onwe said, the children are in dire need of protection. We strongly
suspect the
Accendersi
are on their
trail.” She cast a guilty look about the room. “The
Triada
may have been following us as we were watching over
Caitlin.”

I pulled back from my grandmother’s embrace. “You mean that
Ciro guy?”

My mother jumped
like
she had been
shot.
“Ciro!
Where in the
hell
did you hear that name?”

“Easy Mom, before you have a heart attack. I saw him in my
room after Ta’-Sha left several days ago. He didn’t do anything but stand
there.”

Ael’onwe put her hand on Mom’s arm to steady her. “Marne,
there is a great deal more research to be done. We must go now—we just wanted
to make sure you were aware of the danger so you could make sure she
is protected
when we are unavailable. We will be in contact
as soon as we know more.

The three women’s shapes dissolved, and they were gone as
quickly as they arrived.

My eyes narrowed to tiny slits as I stared at my mother.

She appeared distinctly uncomfortable under my gaze. “I
must go find Johr. It has become obvious our problem is much larger than we
originally thought,” she said and hurried out the door.

***

Talon shook his head back and forth violently in response
to Jace. How could he have been so blind?

“Jace!
She’s a
Lumina
!!
I should have seen it. The way people
are
drawn
to her was a dead giveaway. I knew it was too good to be true.” He
felt the need to beat his head against the nearest wall.

Jace put his hand on Talon’s shoulder. “Talon,
cha-ah
…quit. You are
tuu
'
-
wi
'
a
tah'-shah
, brother of the wolf. We will find a way. You have
searched for her too many centuries, lived in darkness too long, to allow us to
simply give up. She is in good hands here. We will consult with the elders of
the pack for an answer, but we must leave for Emory immediately.”

Talon nodded in agreement.
He had to focus on what he could control.

“I must check in with Johr
and let him know that we are departing. Leaving Caitlin without adequate
protection is completely out of the question. I strongly suspect she and Leah
could get into a tremendous amount of trouble with little to no effort.” He
smiled wryly at Jace.

Jace grimaced. “Now the
hard part is telling them we have to leave. What are we going to say? They’ve
had a pretty big shock already and I’m not sure how much more they can take
before they collapse.”

Talon hung his head. He
had almost made a fatal error at the bonfire due to his inability to focus on
his duty when Caitlin was around.

“Ryan and Egan never
should have been able to get that close to them. I knew there was something off
about Ryan, but I
was too caught up
in my own emotions
to recognize the signs.
By the gods, Jace!
The
Accendersi
were here and within arm’s
reach of her! I am not worthy of leading her security detail.” His shoulders
drooped. “I am afraid I am too distracted by how I feel about her to be able to
identify danger before it is upon us. Yet I am too selfish and possessive to
allow another to take over. This is
exactly
why that law was created in the first place.” Talon never dreamed in his entire
life that he would be guilty of breaking one of the very laws he had pledged an
oath to protect.

Jace put his hand on
Talon’s shoulder. “My brother, I will help you find the answer to this. I
believe that the answer lies in Emory with the Elders. The public portals are
too risky. The
Accendersi
will be
watching them. We will have to drive there.” Jace grinned widely. “The real
question now is do we take the Challenger or the Jeep?” Talon and Jace’s eyes
met and shone with excitement.