For a split second I stood there wishing for some fish tacos like a fool. Part of me really hoped I could do things merely by wishing for it while the rest knew it wasn’t possible. Eventually I was forced to admit defeat and grabbed an apple and some peanut butter along with a soda. I stood there eating when heat broke out over my body.
Sweat poured from every pore and I became light-headed. I opened the freezer and stood in front of it hoping it would cool me down. Through the window I noticed the trees swaying in the breeze and I was tempted to walk out there, but the cool air from the fridge felt too good to move.
A second later the back door blasted open and the winds blew through the house. Freaked out, I shut the freezer door and headed outside to look for what caused the door to open like that. The sun was just setting, and the sky was a beautiful mix of pinks and oranges.
The crunch of gravel intruded on my quiet moment of peace and I turned to see Sebastian striding down the lane. “Are you following me, Sebastian?”
His head jerked and his eyes flared before they narrowed. My hands went to my mouth and I wanted to crawl in a hole. I’d just proven to him that I am the worst kind of stalker alive.
“I’m not following you. I came to Pymm’s Pondside.” His voice was rougher than the gravel beneath his black boots and rubbed me in ways that shouldn’t happen.
Clearing my throat, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I can see that. Why do you keep coming here? Do you want something?”
He watched me without saying anything. Aislinn’s words about my new job as Guardian popped into my head. The woman hadn’t given me any information to go by. Perhaps he wanted to cross into Faery.
“Oh, um, do you want to cross to…” My words faltered as my cheeks heated. I had no idea how this worked. I didn’t want this guy to think I was an imbecile.
His head titled. “To Eidothea? What do you know of the portal to the Fae realm?”
My shoulders lifted and fell. “I don’t know anything.” It stung to admit that fact. For some reason I wanted him to see the brilliant woman I was. The one that picked things up faster than anyone around me and had graduated at the top of my class from nursing school. It was why I was the only nurse able to connect patients to ECMO at my previous hospital. “I’m not even sure I believe anything Aislinn said about magic, the Fae, and my supposed job.”
“I was worried about that. It’s why I’ve come by.”
“Why? Are you here to help me?” Please be here to help me. I was in over my head and needed someone to teach me about everything. Surely there were rules that I should be following. The last thing I wanted to do was make a mistake because I didn’t know any better.
Oh God! What if I let some Fae serial killer through the portal?!
Sebastian didn’t reply, just stared at me. Lightning bugs flitted by my head. I waved them away while keeping my eyes on Sebastian. The buzzing became persistent until I finally turned to see I was wrong about what was flitting around me. They were actually tiny people flying around. Just like Tinkerbell!
These creatures had iridescent wings and vibrant colored hair and clothes. “What are they? Aislinn never told me what they were.”
Sebastian closed some of the distance between us. “They’re pixies. And those are brownies.”
I followed his finger and noticed small brown creatures crawling under the fence and into the garden. “What do they do? Are they trying to cross?”
“You need to learn your shit before King Voron sends something horrendous through to establish a foothold in this realm.” With those growled words, Sebastian stalked away.
My mouth compressed into a thin line to keep from cursing him as he left. Swallowing the anger and frustration wasn’t easy, especially when I considered how this had just been dropped into my lap and he was expecting miracles.
With a growl, I stomped my foot on the grass. Electricity shot out of my hands. I screamed and waved my hands through the air. A bright white stream flew to the left and slammed into a tree.
Flames erupted along the bark and a tall willowy figure separated from it shouting. I ran around the pond and reached her in a flash. My heart pounded against my rib cage as burns sprouted along my arms.
Acting on instinct, I ran to the pond and scooped water into my hands. By time I turned back to her with a handful of water the fire was out, and she was staring at me. I poured the liquid over her arm. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to harm you. I lost my temper.”
Her thin pale brown lips stretched up at the corners and her green eyes sparkled. “It’s okay. Bas has that effect on people. I’m Theamise. Your grandmother invited me to live in the maple when it was dying from a fungus.”
I nodded my head as if I already knew that. Every time I turned around there was something new thrown at me. Except I did know that. Grams had told me the story about the tree dying and making a deal with a nymph to save it.
It seemed impossible that these creatures even existed. If not for the stories my grandmother told me I would be far more shocked. I hoped it got easier to accept this was real because I couldn’t continue having the same arguments in my head. Seriously, I made schizophrenics look sane.
I was no longer in my twenties. Being hit with all this was taking a toll on my mind. But like all Shakleton’s, I refused to allow it to overwhelm me. With a start, I realized my mom ran from all of this. I didn’t think she denied it existed. After all, she sent me to her mom every summer. But why didn’t she or my father ever tell me about any of this? I couldn’t help but wonder what made her move away.
None of that matters right now! Right. I needed to get a handle on the situation before it got out of hand. Something was obviously going on in my new world and I had to know what before it put me on my ass, literally.
“I’m really sorry about your tree. I hope I didn’t do any permanent damage, but I need to run and talk to a friend real quick.”
“I understand. I will heal, as will the tree. Do not worry about us.” Theamise waved me away and went back to the maple.
I raced inside grabbed my purse and keys and jumped into my car. Violet didn’t live far, and I needed to ask her if she knew anything about what was going on. Maybe she had a book that would help me. Regardless, I need my bestie to help with a reality check. I parked in front of the Golden Codex.
The bell jingled when I opened the door and Violet looked up from the register. “Hey, Fiona. What’s wrong?”
I should have known she would pick up on my distress. I checked down the aisle next to me then the next one before I approached her. “I need your help.” I explained what happened that day and what Aislinn told me earlier.
Violet sighed and gave me a sympathetic look I’d seen a thousand times before. “She’s right. Your grandmother was the last Guardian and you are her only living heir, so when you claimed the house you claimed the position.”
“How did I never know about all this? Why didn’t you ever tell me magic existed?”
Violet bit her lip. “I assumed you were born a Mundie and that’s why your parents moved away with you. It’s difficult for a Mundie to grow up among supernaturals. I wasn’t going to be the one to tell you about the world that existed around you, especially if there was nothing you could do to protect yourself from it.”