Stay (15 page)

“I was just showing Callie a few tricks.”
Jenna said with a smile.

Just then, a small cloud appeared over top of
Tuck’s head and began to shower him with cool raindrops.

We all laughed until our sides hurt and I
finally asked it to go away.

“Were you able to get all of my stuff?” Jenna
was already rooting through the wagon.

“Oh yeah. This is the last of it.” Tuck moved
toward the cart and helped her unload some stuff.

Jenna picked a spot a little ways away from
where I usually slept and Tuck helped her to set up her small bed.
She tucked her things away in a tall dresser that she had set up
against the wall.

“All set?” I asked.

“Yup, it feels like home already.” She smiled
and fell back onto her bed.

“Tomorrow we can try to gather some wood. We
could tie them together to form some walls, that way we can have
some privacy.” Tuck was already planning how we would make our new
place into a home.

“That would be great.” I had not had a moment
of privacy since I got there. It would be nice to have my own
little place to call home. Even if it was just a few little walls.
It would also be nice to have a real bed. The stone floor was no
substitute.

That night Tuck moved his things closer to
Jenna’s and I was left feeling very alone. I made up my mind that I
would talk to Kailen one last time, and if he still wouldn’t listen
then I would have to push him out of my mind. I was growing very
tired of felling hurt and alone all the time.

Chapter 15

The next day was spent with Jenna. She
sparred with me as Tuck watched, he really enjoyed playing referee.
Then she showed me a few moves that I hadn’t yet seen using the
sword. We even spent a little time playing with the elements and
flying around the cavern.

We were in the middle of practicing the
ability to summon the element spirits while flying when I heard,
“Oh not again.”

I nearly fell to my death when I looked and
saw that it was Kailen that spoke. He was standing near the
sleeping area and staring up at me. He did not look happy. I
hurried to land taking extra care not to make a fool of myself.
Jenna was right at my side.

Erion saw what was happening and looked very
annoyed. He was helping to learn to fly faster by pushing the wind
against my wings. He gave me a hard disapproving stare before he
vanished.

“Is something wrong?” I asked with my arms
folded across my chest.

“Why do you insist on doing things that you
know are dangerous?” He sounded like he was lecturing a spoiled
child. I could feel heat creeping up the back of my neck and I was
sure that my face was turning bright red with anger.

“You will not speak to me that way!” I
yelled, I just couldn’t help it. Enough was enough.

“Yes, your majesty.” He sounded cocky and
gave an exaggerated bow. When he rose, he didn’t look at me.
Instead, he turned to Jenna.

“And who may I ask are you?” He sounded very
sarcastic.

“I’m Jenna.” She said in her normal overly
perky tone. “You must be Kailen.” She held her hand out to him.

He shook it briefly. With one eyebrow raised
he asked, “And what is it that you are doing here?”

“I’m an old friend of Tuck’s. He invited me
to come and stay with you guys. I’m helping Callie with her
magic.”

“Her magic?” He huffed in disbelief. “What
magic? I have spent weeks with her and I have not witnessed any
magic.”

I was really starting to get mad after that
little statement. In fact I was about to punch him in his nose, but
Jenna grabbed my arm and held me back.

“I don’t know what your problem is Kailen.
But you better watch your tone. I thought you were a nice guy when
I first met you, but obviously I was mistaken.”

“The only problem that I see here is that you
have gone behind my back and started flying and using fairy magic.
And to top it off you have invited a complete stranger to come and
live here without my permission.”

“Without your permission?” I sputtered, I
didn’t know how much longer I was going to be able to control
myself. “Who do think you are? I don’t need your permission to do
anything! In case you have forgotten, I am the princess here!”

With that, I called to the elements and a
hard rain came down on top of Kailen’s head. I just couldn’t help
myself.

I caught a glimpse of Naida snickering as she
dissolved away.

“Maybe now you can go cool off.” I screamed
as Jenna tugged me away.

“What’s with that guy?” She whispered.

“I don’t know.” I said and went on to tell
her how I had first met Kailen and about the night above the
tunnel. “Now this is what I have to deal with. He’s like Jekyll and
Hyde.”

“That is very strange, Callie. I wonder
what’s caused him to change so quickly. Or maybe he was really just
a jerk all along. You better watch out for him.”

“I don’t know, but I can tell you for sure
that I have had enough.” I was still angry at Kailen for the way
that he treated me, but at the same time, I was very sad. I thought
that he was someone that I could really trust, but now he was
really starting to scare me.

There was a lot of commotion just outside of
the entrance to the cavern. Jenna and I turned to see what could be
causing it. I was shocked to see several people emerge. Some were
carrying large over stuffed backpacks, while others pulled large
wagons similar to the one that Tuck had used.

There were at least two dozen of them in all.
Men and women. Some of them I recognized from Drake. Kailen must
have invited them to come back with him. And he had the nerve to
ask me why I didn’t seek his permission before we invited
Jenna?

Kailen entered behind them hefting yet
another wooden cart piled with things. I had not even noticed that
he went back out. He pointed in our direction, and told the
newcomers to find a place to set up camp along the wall near where
we were standing. We quickly moved out of the way.

One by one, the newcomers made their way over
to me and introduced themselves.

There were several couples, some with
children. The first was Foster and Tania. He was short but thin
with dark hair and a pointy chin. Tania, his wife, was pretty and
petite. She had long strawberry blonde hair and two small children
hid behind her as she spoke. They were both boys. Tanner was five
and dark haired like his dad, while Tad was only three. He had
pudgy cheeks and fair hair like his mother.

Next came Dain and Shaylee. Dain was tall and
witty, while Shaylee was shy but lovely with soft golden curls and
a friendly smile. They had only one child, a bold and daring nine
year old girl named Avery. Avery had red hair and a large patch of
freckles spread across her nose and onto her cheeks.

“You don’t look much like a princess.” Avery
said with her hands on her hips.

“Well, what should a princess look like?” I
stifled a giggle.

She thought for a moment and then shrugged.
“I don’t know but not like you.” Then she took off skipping about
the cave.

I nodded and introduced myself to each one as
they made their way about the cave setting up camp. Some had tents
that were made of cloth while others made a bed in the back of
their wagon on or on the ground.

The cavern soon filled with the chatter and
laughter of its new residents. I wondered where Tuck, Jenna, and I
would practice our fighting. Our open space was becoming very
limited.

“Callie?” Asked an older woman named Celia.
“Do you think that you could help me plant a garden, the sunlight
over here should be just enough for my plants to grow.” She held
out a bag of seeds.

“Sure.” I loved the idea of having fresh
veggies. It would be great to have something to eat besides jerky
and fish.

I summoned earth and asked her to bring forth
a bed of rich soil. The ground rumbled and everyone turned to stare
as rich black earth heaped up from under the hard rocky floor.
“Thank you Demi.” I said quietly.

Celia stared at me with wide eyes and I took
the bag of seeds and helped her plant little rows of vegetables. It
was tedious work and I was getting dirt caked under my fingernails,
but it was relaxing and gave me plenty of time to think.

“You are going to be a very powerful fairy.”
She said as she bent over to bury another seed.

I looked at her puzzled. “I thought all of
the female Fae could summon the elements.”

“No not all of them. The ones who can call
them are usually only able summon one of the elements, not all
four. It takes a very powerful Fairy to be able to do that.”

I looked over to where Jenna was sweeping up
the dust from around her little room. I watched her get frustrated
and then I saw Erion appear and send a soft wind to blow the dust
from Jenna’s space out into the tunnel. He turned and winked at me
before he left. Even though Jenna couldn’t see him, I knew that she
must be pretty powerful too. I wondered if she knew about all of
the things that Celia was saying. I also wondered what it was that
made her so powerful.

It made sense that I would be able to call
them, since I was some type of royalty or whatever. Jenna had never
really mentioned her family, other than how they died, but she was
definitely able to summon all of them. I wish that I knew who her
mother was.

“And I have never seen anything like this
before.” Celia pulled my attention back from Jenna and motioned to
the garden. “You brought fertile soil through the rock floor of a
cave. That’s just amazing.”

I smiled, but I was starting to feel a little
uneasy. I had not realized that what I had done was anything
extraordinary. It was something that I assumed all fairies could
do. Then again, why would she need my help if she could have done
it herself?

I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I
imagined what her reaction would be if she knew that I could
actually see and interact with the sprits. She might just
faint.

Celia went back to her work. She planted row
after row of corn, beans, squash, and a bunch of other vegetables.
We would definitely have ourselves a feast when they were grown.
When she was through, I called on Naida, the water spirit, to bring
a gentle shower to water her crops. I thought she would wet her
pants from laughing so hard as she watched the little rain cloud
gliding over her garden.

She thanked me repeatedly, and I promised to
come back every day and water the plants until they were ripe.

I walked back to Jenna’s room, which was
actually coming along pretty nicely. Tuck had worked all day on
building her walls. The wooden slats while not entirely solid still
created a nice sense of privacy and personal space.

“This is great!” I said to Tuck as he
finished attaching a narrow door with thick leather straps.

“Thanks Callie! Tomorrow I’ll get started on
yours.” He looked up and wiped some sweat from his brow. Poor guy.
He was really working hard to turn this place into a home. It was
good to see him actually find somewhere that he truly felt like he
belonged, but I hated that he was having to work so hard to make it
right.

“That sounds nice Tuck, but I don’t even have
a bed. It’s really not necessary.”

“Didn’t Kailen tell you?” He stood up looking
confused.

“Tell me what?” Kailen had not said a nice
word to me in nearly a week.

“He brought you a bed back from Drake. It’s
right over there.” He pointed to a stack of wood and an old
mattress that had been propped up against the wall. “When I get
through here, I will come and put it together for you.”

“Okay, great! I’ll clear a spot to set it
up.” That really had me smiling.

“Just let me know when you are ready.”

I looked around for a good place to have my
room. I wanted to move as far away from Kailen as possible, but I
did not want to be on the other side of the cavern with people that
I didn’t really know.

“Can I have the spot on the other side of
Jenna? Or were you planning to use that spot?” I raised an eyebrow
at him.

“Nope you can have it.” He said with a
chuckle. “I was planning to set up over here between Jenna and the
wall.”

With that settled, I went to inspect my new
bed. It was a little scuffed and dirty so I found an old rag and I
got a bucket of soap and water from one of the newcomers. I
scrubbed the bed from top to bottom. I even wiped down the
mattress, but it still had a funny odor. I was standing there
staring at it when I heard someone say, “Why don’t you call to
earth to make it smell like flowers?”

It sounded like a great idea, so I closed my
eyes and summoned Demi to fill my mattress with the scent of
lilacs. Suddenly the whole room smelled like fresh flowers and when
I put my nose to the mattress, it smelled just like fresh cut
lilacs.

“That was pretty amazing.” The voice said
again. I turned to see who was speaking, only to find Kailen
standing a few feet behind me.

“Did you need something?” I asked with
indifference.

“Callie, I just wanted to apologize for the
way that I have been acting.”

“Don’t bother.” I said as I tried to walk
away. Kailen caught me by the arm, and I was stopped in my tracks.
I should have pulled away from him but I just didn’t have the
energy anymore.

“Please Callie. Just hear me out.” He was
trying to meet my eyes.

I let out a long heavy sigh. I tried to fight
it but I couldn’t. I looked up to meet his eyes. “Go ahead.”

“Callie, I never meant to hurt you. I
recognized who you were immediately when you walked into Drake. You
were beautiful and kind, but you were never meant to be with
someone like me. I tried to keep my distance. That night in the
hollow, I let my emotions get the best of me. I should not have
kissed you. I should have stopped it right then, but I was not sure
of what I should say. You are our future queen Callie. You need to
focus on your future, not on me.”