Chapter Twenty One
Kevan sipped her coffee, as she watching in amazement as Kira demolished yet another of the donuts that Caleb had pulled out for her. For such a tiny thing she could pack it away.
Settling down on the table, Kira let out a huge belch. "Sorry," she giggled, covering her mouth, making then all laugh at the sound that came out of the miniature body. "I like you’re ..." she looked to Kevan.
"Doughnut, it's called a doughnut," Kevan supplied.
"Dough - nut," Kira repeated with a smile, and a nod of her head. "I like your doughnuts, Kevan, can we get more?"
"Kira, you tell us everything Tatiana wanted us to know, and we will see that you have a never ending supply of donuts," Kevan promised her.
"I think I'm going to like it here," Kira told them, as she did a twirl; she seemed to do that a lot.
"Like it here?" Kevan questioned as she looked to Caleb. "What does she mean; she is going to like it here?"
"Kevan, don't get upset," Caleb told her.
"I won't get upset if you tell me what she is talking about," Kevan told him.
"Kira volunteered to come to you," Caleb explained.
"Yes, you already told us that, but what does that have to do with her staying here?"
"When she volunteered, that means whomever Tatiana gave her to becomes her new ..." he stopped, trying to find the right words to explain it to Kevan.
"I belong to you now," Kira chirped at her. "I am your guardian fey."
"Only until we get you back to Tatiana, correct?" Kevan stated.
"No Kevan, Kira is yours now. She is part of you." Caleb admitted.
"What do you mean she is part of me?"
"She is your living tattoo. When she sleeps, she will sleep on your body. She likely will travel that way also. She is your guardian fey." Kevan stared wide eyed at the little fey standing on the table.
"But, won't Tatiana want her back?"
"Tatiana sent me to help you," Kira informed them, "all of you. I am the guardian fey for the women of destiny. That is what Tatiana called them."
"So what does that mean?" Kaitlyn asked her curiosity was piqued.
"That you have been doubly honored," Caleb informed them. "Kira is the guardian of your sisters and cousins, but she is still part of you, Kevan, and as much as she will protect you, you will need to protect her. This brings us back to something very important." Caleb looked to the fey, who had watched their entire exchange with amusement. "I'm glad that you think that you will like it here, Kira, but there are some rules!" Caleb informed her.
"I don't like rules," Kira pouted, as she crossed her arms and stomped her foot. That looked odd, as she was floating in the air about five inches off the table.
"Kira, you have never liked rules, but they are for your protection and they will be obeyed, understood?" Caleb told her. "Earth isn't like Farren. People here don't know about fey, and if they saw you, it could cause all kinds of problems."
"But Tatiana sent me to help, so that you would be able to help open the portal again," she told him, as she continued to eye the donuts sitting on the kitchen counter.
"How would we be able to help open the portal, when we don't know who closed it, or how?" Caleb wanted to know.
"Whatever closed the portal had to have a very powerful spell," Kaitlyn supplied. "Maybe like the spells that are in our doomsday grimoire?" Kevan looked to her sister, surprised she hadn't thought of that herself.
"Well, that makes sense. Okay, if that's true, then that may explain some things," Kevan stated. "Like maybe the person that closed the portals hasn't been able to access them since Leonard shut off access to the repository and moved the grimoire?" Caleb took Kevan's hand, squeezing it. "Why does it seem like we are getting more questions than answers?" she asked him, her voice sounding weary.
"We have directions to the grimoire," Caleb argued, "That is more than we had a couple hours ago."
"Oh, come on Caleb, you've read the scroll," Kevan threw at him. "They make no sense; maybe it was just was wishful thinking."
"It's supposedly been done before," he pointed out.
"That isn't much of an incentive, Caleb, seeing as everyone claims that Samhain went crazy because he found the grimoire. Yeah, like that fact really makes me excited about finding this thing."
"We can't prove that Dexter ever found the grimoire," Kaitlyn informed them. "I'm sorry, I wish I had something that showed that he really did, but from everything I read so far, he was on the trail of something, but then he got paranoid, and I'm struggling with his notes now. Honestly, if I was a betting person, I would say that he didn't find the grimoire."
"Then what did he find? What was it that Dreyden was after?" Caleb questioned, for he was the one not being the voice of reason, but possibilities, which was a change for him.
Kevan looked at him, suppressing a smile at his struggle with trying to be the one to encourage them to continue on their quest for the grimoire.
"He was following something that was leading him to the grimoire, and we know that the only thing that he took from L'Dern when he escaped was the Samhain diary, which supposedly leads to the grimoire," Kaitlyn spoke up.
"Okay, let's say you're right, how does your friend Tatiana, whom you have had no communication with for almost two thousand years, suddenly have directions to the exact thing that we are looking for?"
"Kevan, I'm only going to tell you this once. Tatiana had nothing to do with any of this. She has risked her life to get us this information," Caleb pointed out.
"But how the hell do we know what to do with these directions? It's not as if they say go to Highway 10 and Ladner Trunk Road, and turn at Highway 17A to the ferries. It says that the grimoire is in a dark place surrounded by water in the, whatever ..." she trailed off.
"Okay, so it's not exactly precise, but we're closer than we were twenty four hours ago. Think about all that you have discovered so far. You have Leila, who can communicate with the repository, and now you have Kira to help."
"Don't forget me," Kaitlyn piped up.
"Your sister wouldn't miss this, and you have me and the other cairbare. You know that we will do everything that we can to help." Kevan laced her fingers with Caleb's. "We can do this. We'll find the grimoire, and make sure that nobody can use it to hurt everyone we care about." Kevan watched him, her heart swelling with love.
"I love you, Caleb, for trying to make me feel better," Kevan said, then took a steadying breath before continuing, "It's not like we don't know who is after the grimoire. Both Leonard and Dreyden want it and I know that we can deal with them, but someone else wants it, and that person is willing to kill to get their hands on it."
"Then we need to make sure that we stop them. We get it first, and ensure that it is put somewhere out of their reach." Caleb sounded so positive that they could do this. Kevan wasn't as positive, but she smiled and tried to fake her belief that they could do it.
Kevan watched the warriors prepare for war, and as uncomfortable as that thought made her, she was very glad that the cairbare were on their side. The guys looked amazing, from the form fitting black pants, to the tight t-shirts that clung to every ripple, and muscle on their board chests. They all moved with such pleasurable grace, even as they strapped on enough weaponry to take on a small army. What amazed her was how the variety of weapons ran the gauntlet, from modern day semi-automatic pistols, and AK 47s, to swords from across the eons. She had even seen a couple cross bows strapped across their backs.
Kevan recalled her shock when Kayne opened a secret room beside the gym. They had walked into one of the armories of the cairbare, stacked floor to ceiling with weapons. He had lovingly touched each one, checking each weapon over, before handing it over to the men. She had learned from Caleb that one of Kayne's jobs, as well as his passion, was weapons; no matter how big or small, he loved them all.
Kevan and he
r family had tried to refuse the smaller guns that Kayne handed them, but he refused to accept a no. Kevan knew she had way more control over her powers than her sisters, but it still wasn't enough that she could be without something to protect them. So reluctantly, they accepted the offered guns. After a quick overview on how they worked, she had slid hers into her backpack, hoping that she wouldn't need to use it.
Standing with Kaitlyn, Leila, and Eve, she could see the escalating anxiousness within all of them. Kira flew around the room, going from one shoulder to the next. She was bubbling with excitement about the journey they were about to undertake.
Standing on the other side of the room was Brennan, and the rest of the family watching as they prepared for the journey. Kevan could see that Brennan was still looking to continue with the argument that had been ongoing since Kevan had had her encounter with Tatiana. Caleb, Marcus, Niall and Joseph along with Kevan and Kaitlyn, had pored over the directions that Tatiana had passed on to them until they were all going crazy, trying to decipher it, until Kaitlyn finally figured out what they had all continued to overlook.
Tatiana's message, although somewhat vague, had given them a starting point, and now as they prepared to embark on their quest, they all secretly hoped that it would become clearer as they searched for the elusive grimoire.
START AT THE END AND WORK YOUR WAY BACK
WHAT YOU SEEK SITS IN A PLACE OF PROTECTION
THAT SEES NEITHER THE LIGHT OF DAY
NOR THE DARK OF NIGHT
SURROUNDED BY WATER AND FIRE
IT AWAITS ITS RELEASE
BY THE TRUTH SEEKER
THE ALL SEEING
THE TALKER
AND THE WARRIOR
SURROUNDED BY THE PROTECTORS
THEY ALL MUST WORK TOGETHER
TO SHINE THE WAY THROUGH THE DARKNESS
DON'T BELIEVE THE FALSEHOODS
TRUST IN THE TRUTH
KNOW THAT THEY CAN DO
WHAT HAS BEEN SET IN FRONT OF THEM
THE MOST UNLIKELY OF ALL
WILL DO WHAT SEEMS TO BE IMPOSSIBLE
ALL WILL BECOME CLEAR
AS YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU SEEK
"Kevan," Brennan demanded. "This is crazy, what if you need our help?"
"Brennan, we have been over this," Kevan sighed, "You can't come."
"But ..." Brennan argued.
"No. Look, Tatiana's directions tell us that we need the truth seeker and that's Eve, the all seeing which is me, the talker is Leila, and the warrior."
"At your command!" Kira piped up, as she swung her sword around with a twirl.
"So, why is Kaitlyn going?" Brennan demanded.
"You know why. Kaitlyn was the one that figured out the first part of Tatiana's clue, that's why," Kevan told her, seeing that Brennan wanted to argue about it more. "Brennan, enough. I know you want to come and I understand, if the shoe was on the other foot, I would be doing exactly what you are doing. But we need you here, looking like everything is carrying on as normal. If we all disappeared, that would send up red flags for whoever is watching us. With you here, making things looking normal, maybe we have a better chance of getting the grimoire without alerting our enemies."
"Without alerting them? Are you kidding me, look at those guys," Brennan pointed at the men. "They're preparing for a war. Why would they do that, if they want to keep this so undercover?"
"Because, as we all know, things happen that are out of our control, so we're going in prepared for the worst, and hoping for the best," Caleb informed Brennan.
"Brennan, trust that we can do this," Kevan pleaded with her.
"Kevan, that was never a debate, I know that you can do this. I even trust that they will do whatever they can to protect you," Brennan stated, looking at the well-armed men. "What I don't like, is that yet again, you're doing this without us. We agreed that we wouldn't do things on our own anymore."
Kevan let out a snort of laughter at Brennan's twist of their promise, to suit her needs.
"Brennan, nice try, what we agreed to was that we would not do things without everyone's knowledge. Everyone that needs to know knows. That's all that's important; besides, the more people that are involved, the higher the odds that we'll be discovered."
"But you have no idea what you are getting into!" Brennan tried to argue.
"Brennan enough!" Eve snapped. "You're not coming, and trying to argue your way into this is not going to work. We know that you're scared for us, but we've promised to keep in touch. We all have our phones, and we'll call whenever we can."
Brennan sighed; she knew that they weren't going to give in. Giving them each a hug, she reluctantly released her need to try to control this. She was terrified that this could possibly be the last time that she saw her sisters, and she wanted them to know that even though she wasn't happy with the situation, she supported them.
Coming face to face with Caleb, Marcus, and the others preparing to take her sisters away, she tried to look strong, though she felt anything but as she warned them, "You had better take care of them, or else."
"With our lives," Caleb promised. Nodding, she turned and walked out the door. She didn't want to let them see her break down. Caleb looked to Kevan and the other women, seeing unshed tears.
He asked, “Ready?" Kevan looked to him. "We need to get moving, if we want to keep this under wraps."
"I know," she told him. "We're ready." She picked up the backpack sitting at her feet, and looked to the rest of her cousins and sisters who were standing, watching.
"We're going to be okay, and we will be back before you even get a chance to miss us," she told them. "I promise."
"Don't make promises that you may not be able to keep, Kevan." Myrna's warning came from experience.
"Myrna ..." Kevan started, but stopped, understanding how lame the platitude, I promise, sounded.
"Good luck, be safe," Myrna told them.
Kevan looked at her sisters and cousins, then to Caleb.
"Let's go," she whispered, wanting to get out of there before they changed their minds. Caleb gently cradled her face, his love shining through his eyes, warming her.
"It's going to be okay," he told her