I rolled my eyes. “Tony, could you get Gorm another plate of worms?”
I saw the evil light flicker in Gorm’s eyes at the exact moment I realized I’d made the mistake of saying his name.
I didn’t think about my next move, I just did it; I reached out as fast as lighting and slapped him hard across the face. CRACK!
My hand came away slightly slimy. I wiped it on the tablecloth with a look of distaste. “Ew. That’s disgusting. Maybe you should consider face powder or something.”
Gorm looked at me in stunned astonishment, swallowing his last bite of food with a loud gulp. “Did you just ... slap me?” His hand reached up slowly to feel his cheek, which now had an angry red handprint on it.
“Yeah, I did. And I’ll do it again Gorm, if you so much as think about eating me or any of the other fae in this compound.”
He frowned at me, confused. “But ... you can’t stop me if I want to do that, you know.”
“Oh yeah? Try me,” I said, staring him down. I pulled some of The Green into my body and fed it up into my eyes, sending the energy directly out of my pupils to hit him full force in the face.
The gasps of ooohs and aaahs that I heard from my friends around me told me it had the effect I was going for. I let the connection drop, still keeping my eyes on Gorms’.
“You catch my drift?”
“Whaaaaa ... ?” he asked, as if he was in a daze.
I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Hey! Pay attention here! I’m in the middle of threatening you.” I sighed impatiently. “Do you understand what I’m saying? No eating the fae? Fae are not on the menu?”
He nodded, a chagrined look on his face. “Yes, Mother.”
I closed my eyes and tried to find my happy place. My hand itched to slap him again. I had to grip it in a tight fist to keep it down and un-slimed. “Do not. Call me. Mother.”
Gorm frowned. “Why not? It is who you are.”
I looked at him, shaking my head in frustration, ready to blow at any second. “How could you possibly know that? You don’t know me at all! You’re low-fae for shit’s sake!”
He looked at me with nothing but innocence on his face. It was so Chase-like, it made my heart skip a beat.
“I have not always been who you see before you today. I have been to the Otherworlds, and I can feel who you are; it does not matter what I see. I am low-fae now, yes. But you are the Mother, that is certain.” He shrugged his shoulders and then grabbed the plate of meat that had just arrived from the buffet, courtesy of Tony. Just before he shoved another forkful of it in his mouth, he said, “Denial does not change reality for everyone else. Only for the one denying and those who are foolish enough to believe the fantasy.”
I had nothing to say to that. How could this slobbery monster be giving me words of wisdom that actually made some sense, no matter how much I didn’t want them to?
I looked over at Tony. “Okay, so now what? What do we do with the Chase-monster?”
Tony’s eyes were wide and he was just shaking his head from side to side. “Jayne, I have to admit. I’m kinda stumped on this one. I’m not sure chess club prepared me for this kind of move.”
I watched Gorm dig into his meal, trying to ignore the actual eating part to just focus on his face. My attention was pulled away by his bicep and forearm muscles nearest me, flexing and moving as he shoved forkful after forkful of meat into his grizzly face. He needed a shave, badly. Even so, his very solid presence brought back intense memories of Chase, and I knew there was only one thing to do.
“Gorm. I need you to take me to Chase. I need to see him. Can you do that?”
He swallowed and held out his empty plate for more food at Tony. Tony took it wordlessly, rolling his eyes and walking away.
“Yes. I can do that. But once I deliver you, my debt is paid. I completed his assignment to watch over you and I will fulfill your request. Then I shall be released.”
“So, what does that mean? You deliver me to Chase and then turn around and eat us right after?”
Gorm looked at me, the baby-blue of Chase’s eyes flecked with bits of not so pretty, muddy green that I knew belonged to the Gorm inside. “I could never ever hurt you. You are the Mother. And Chase?” he hesitated, shrugging, “I don’t believe he would taste very good. He’s not fae or human, after all.”
I seized Gorm’s arm, a little creeped out by its lack of warmth. “What do you mean? What is he? I mean, if he’s not fae or human, what’s left?”
Gorm smiled, and not altogether nicely. “I cannot tell you the answer to your question. But someone can.”
“Who?” My mind was racing. I was so sure he was going to say Dardennes.
“Perhaps the little pixie in your hair, who by the way would make a very nice dessert after all of these delicious Angulas.”
“What?!” I yelled, reaching back immediately to grab for Tim.
Apparently his wings had grown back more than I’d realized in the last day or so, because I instantly felt the weight of his tiny body leave my shoulder. I heard the sound of wings buzzing – a sound I hadn’t heard in too long – by my ear and then above my head.
“Tim! Get back here, you little liar!” I’m not sure that he had technically lied to me about anything, but he sure was guilty of not telling me everything I needed to know. Little fucker. I was going to get him and make him tell me his entire story, start to finish. I didn’t care if it took all day. Or two.
“Sorry, Jayne,” said Tim, not sounding at all apologetic. “I suddenly feel the need to fly. Need to exercise the new wings, you know. I’ll see you later, at dinner!” His voice faded away as he flew closer to the door.
“Get him, Finn!” I yelled.
And Finn almost made it; but a brownie came into the room intending to clean the big mess left by all the fraidy cat changelings, and opened the door just in time for Tim to make his getaway. Finn stopped at the door, looking back and forth between me and the hallway where Tim had just disappeared.
“Never mind,” I said, angrily. “I’ll catch that little bastard later. He’s gonna get it.”
Finn walked back over to stand near us again, his bow no longer locked and loaded.
Gorm smiled at me. “Pixies are troublesome. I could eat him for you; then you would have no more pixie problems.”
I smacked his arm. “Stop already with the pixie eating. I’m never going to say it’s okay.” I studied his face for second. “Why do you eat fae when you obviously are happy eating non-fae meat like that stuff?” I gestured to his once again empty plate.
“Fae taste better. Angulas are too salty.”
“Yeah, that may be. But don’t you worry about making enemies of the fae? Wouldn’t you rather be friends with them?”
He frowned. “The buggane is not friends with anyone.”
“Why?” I pressed. I wanted to know if it was one of those fae-discrimination things or fae-misunderstanding things. For an ancient race, they sure hadn’t found answers all the common human problems that I would have thought could eventually be solved with enough time.
“I have not been a buggane for long. But I can tell you that when I am around a number of fae, it makes me very uncomfortable.”
“Why? Because they don’t like you or are afraid you’re going to eat them?”
“No. Because I find that I prefer a solitary life. By the water. And the fae smell delicious, so to eat them is natural for me.”
“So what’s going on is you’re a fae who eats fae and that’s that. There’s no other reason?”
“Maybe there are other reasons. We all have a purpose in the grand scheme of this realm.”
“Do you know what those reasons are?”
He shrugged, using his finger to push down on remnants of meat left on or near his plate so they would stick, then moving them up to his tongue. “I could guess. But that is arrogant. None of us really knows. The Light think they do; the Dark think they do. But they don’t.”
“
How did you get so philosophical?” I asked, shaking my head at the absurdity of it all – the boogieman having figured the meaning of life, or pieces of it anyway.
“Like I said to you before, I was in the Overworld for a long time. I was privy to parts of the plan there. Not all of it, but parts of it. So I put some things together in my mind. We all do up there. It’s a good way to pass the time, until we are called for a higher purpose.”
I squinted my eyes at him, wondering if he was messing with me. “What higher purpose? What’s higher than being in the Overworld? You were like an angel there, right?”
“A higher purpose. What is there to explain? Honestly, being in the Overworld is over-rated. Everyone here wants to get there. But everyone there wants to get back here. The Here and Now is where the fun of existence is – the battles, the struggles, the unmet desires. A higher purpose is being here, overcoming obstacles, striving, protecting something valuable that will move your spirit towards the final awareness. Now that is a higher purpose. I envy Chase sometimes. He is so good at whatever he does. Mostly.” He smiled evilly, “Not all the time apparently, but usually.”
I put my arm across Gorm’s back, sending a couple waves of The Green into his body. I felt him stiffen underneath the onslaught. “Listen here, buggane. I don’t want any more of this ‘higher purpose’ bullshit. I want the straight-up truth. Who is Chase and why is he here? And how can I get him back with me?”
Gorm turned in his seat so he could look me in the eye, which shifted my hand to his shoulder. We sat there staring eye to eye for a few seconds before he answered me so quietly, I’m sure I was the only one who heard him.
“Sometimes, it’s better not to know the things you wish you could know. Sometimes knowing ahead of time, the secrets of this life, can cause destiny to go awry. I wouldn’t want that for our Mother. And so you will have to understand when I refuse to answer your questions more fully.”
And then he stood, abruptly shoving his chair out behind him, its legs scraping across the stone floor. “But!” he announced out to the room, “I am willing to bring you to Chase. So unless you have something else to do now, we can go.”
I stood up quickly too. “You sure you don’t want to spill your guts on that other stuff?” I had been intimidated by his little speech from just a second ago, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to probe him for information one last time.
“No.”
“Okay, fine. Let’s go then.” I looked at Scrum and then Tony and Finn. “You guys in?”
“Yes,” answered Scrum, “anything to get Chase back here is fine with me.”
I smiled. “What? Job getting to be too much?”
“You could say that,” said Scrum, smiling back. “Not really, though. I just think Chase should be the one taking care of you. It’s kinda like it was meant to be, you know?”
I was starting to feel the same way, which is why him being gone felt so damn wrong to me, especially now that his not so charming near-twin was standing here, towering over me. “Yes. I know.”
Tony said, “I’m supposed to be working with the gray elves after lunch, but this time I think I’d be better off with you. Especially if you’re going to get anywhere near the Dark Fae compound.”
“Sure you won’t get in trouble?” I asked, a challenge in my eye.
“No. But I’m sure I don’t want you getting hurt, so what choice do I have? If I ask you not to go, will you stay?”
“Nope.”
“What about you Finn? You got better things to do?”
“Than rescue Chase from the Dark Fae compound? Hell no. Let’s get to it, girl.”
I smiled. I had my posse with me. Smaller, yes, but no less welcome and no less awesome. “I wish Tim were coming.”
“I can still smell him. He is close,” said Gorm.
Little pest was probably going to follow us all the way there. That made me happy. “Okay then. Lead on.”
Chapter 7
We left the lunchroom and the Light Fae compound, headed in the only direction I knew might lead to the Dark Fae hideout – through the Infinity Meadow.
“We have to look out for orcs,” I said as a side remark while picking my way through the long grasses.
“Orcs are Underworld creatures. They are not present here,” said Gorm.
“My ass they’re not present here. I’ve been attacked by orcs twice since I came to the Green Forest. And neither was something I’d like to repeat, if I can help it.”
“You are mistaken. Perhaps you met up with some ugly ogres.”
“Listen, Gorm, I’m not mistaken. They were orcs – you know, black? Lumpy? Smelly? Tar-like blood that burns like acid? You know what they say ... looks like an orc, smells like an orc, bleeds like an orc ... ”
Gorm stopped walking for a second. We had reached the edge of the trees on the far side of the meadow. “You are describing orcs, yes. But they are not of this world.” He was frowning at me.
“Yeah, well neither were you. And you keep hinting that Chase isn’t either. So I guess if you can be here, so can they.”
“No,” said Gorm, walking again, but shaking his head. “We are not here in our Overworld forms. That is impossible. We accept a rebirth to come here again as fae. If an orc were to come back to the Here and Now, it would have to shed its identity as an Underworld creature.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. He was starting to remind me of the adults in my life who refused to listen to reason. “Believe what you want. I guess they’ve figured out a way to change the rules. You can ask Finn and Tony. They were there for one of the attacks.” I lifted my head to yell out into the space above our heads, “And Tim was there for the other one, so you could ask him about that too!” I couldn’t hear his wings or his farts, but I knew he was out there somewhere. He was too damn nosy not to be following me. Plus he hated to be left out of anything.
“She’s right,” volunteered Finn. Them were orcs, ain’t not doubt about it. Hundreds of ‘em. Stuck in the dang trees before she let ‘em out.”
Gorm smiled. “I should have known it was you who did that. We knew of the tree-trapped creatures. It was only a matter of time before they were released. It stands to reason it would be now.”
“Why, Gorm? Why now?”
He just shook his head at me.
I had to force myself not to go ballistic on him. “Just ... never mind. Tell me how to get Chase.” I was out of patience and the ability to be nice him. Stupid jerk was keeping secrets just like all the other fae I had to live with. Pains in the ass, every single one of them. Except my friends of course. But minus Tim. He was currently a grade-A pain in the ass.
“Your friend Tony can take you to him. Use the Gray.”
I turned to my friend. “Tony? Can you do it?”
“Yes ... ” he said hesitantly, “if I knew exactly what I was looking for – or the place, maybe.”
I sighed impatiently. “You’re looking for Chase, duh. In the Dark Fae compound. What else do you need to know?”
He closed his eyes and gave his head a brief shake. “Nothing, I guess. Just come here and hold my hand. Think really hard about Chase. It’ll help.”
“Okay.” I stepped over and took his hand. “What should I think about? His face? His eyes?” I didn’t want to say what I was thinking – should I think about his amazingly muscled body? Strong biceps, rare but beguiling smile, silent sexy way about him?
Tony interrupted my reverie with his answer, “Anything. The way he looks, conversations you’ve had – memories, basically.”
“Okey dokey.” I turned to our friends. “Finn, Scrum ... can you keep an eye out while we’re doing this thing?” My eyes scanned the trees above us, unsuccessfully trying to locate pixie wing movements.
“Sure,” they both said in unison. Finn took three steps back and notched an arrow in the bow. Scrum moved in closer, putting his back to mine, so that I was between him and Finn.
Gorm sat down on a bed of leaves and twi
gs underneath the tree, near where we stood.
“Okay, I’m going to start,” said Tony in a soft voice.
I loved the feel of his hand in mine. It was warm and soft, uncalloused.
“Jayne,” said Tony wryly, “you have to think about Chase, not me.”
I smiled. “Oh yeah. Sorry about that. I just like the way your hand feels.”
Before I closed my eyes to concentrate, I saw a smile flit across his face. I wanted to give him a super-sized hug right then, but it was going to have to wait. I rearranged my thoughts to focus on Chase. The first thing that popped into my mind was his face – his solid jaw line, full and sculpted lips, high cheekbones. He had a large brow ridge over his eyes ... eyes that were cornflower blue, baby blue, sky blue, every kind of beautiful light blue I could think of. I rarely saw him smile, and when I did it was always a surprise. So slight, but carrying a lot of meaning. At least, it did before he was pixelated. I chose to remember him this way and not as the crazy loon who grinned his head off for no reason. That was a Chase that needed to stay far, far away from me. I probably would have blasted him back into the Overworld if he had kept that shit up around me for too long. I can only handle so much glee before I want to seriously maim or kill its source.
“Jayne,” warned Tony. “Focus.”
“Okay, sorry.” Back I went into Chase la-la land, sighing at the unfairness of it all. This beautiful, silent warrior had left me. Well, he needed to get his ass back here – that was all there was to it. Chase, Chase, Chase – come back to me Chase. Be my warrior daemon again, Chase, you stinkin’ liar, not telling me you were from the Overworld, for shit’s sake. Not telling me you had friggin secrets the whole time we were in that damn forest during the changeling test.
Tony sighed. “I can’t do this. Jayne is too easily distracted. Whenever I get close, she pulls me back.”
I dropped my hand. “I’m so sorry, let me try again. I can do this.”