In the morning, I woke up excited for the trip to come. I was even working out a plan so I didn't have to fly. Nate was already out of bed, so I grabbed my list for Liam and Kyle and headed downstairs to find everyone, except Frannie and Gary, already gathered in the living room.
"Hurry up and pack, my little butterfly," Nate said. "We have a special stop we want to make before we head home."
Being a good little soldier, I did as he commanded and managed to get dressed as I threw everything in my bag. Not wanting to carry it down the stairs, I made it float behind me. I was enjoying the fact that I could show off a little. Everyone had already seen me do the trick, so it wasn't like anyone found it shocking.
"Okay, where we're going is less than an hour by plane, so let's head over to the airport," Nate said. "You can give the guys your demands during the flight."
"Doesn't them already being on the plane diminish the fact that I have demands they must agree to before I allow them to come live with us?" I asked. The plan to go somewhere special was cool, but it was messing up the fun I'd scheduled for the morning.
"Maybe just a little, but I'm pretty sure they've figured out they get to come. Especially when they were told to pack their bags last night by Vinnie," Rick stated.
"Seriously, Vinnie, you sold me out? I would've never imagined you giving them the okay," I said, whining. He was the one who said we had to vote on things.
"They're big and strong. We're going to need them to help protect you. I'm not sure I see the reasoning behind the fox coming along, but the guys make perfect sense," he replied.
"You mean Miranda is coming too?" I asked. I got the feeling I'd been in one of my comas again. It was like the second I fell asleep, everyone else went behind my back to make decisions.
"Yup," Nate said. "It's all part of that 'her life now belongs to you' crap. If we didn't bring her with us, eventually she would've ended up on our doorstep, so we decided to okay her move."
"We're going to run out of bedrooms if we aren't careful," I pointed out.
"We have enough room to add on to the house if need be. We could also do some remodeling to the existing house if we need more rooms. You know as well as I do that there's plenty of space we aren't using," Nate replied. I was glad he was already busy thinking about those things. As long as my room wasn't touched, I didn't really care what happened in the rest of the house.
I said good-bye to Elizabeth. "You know it's kind of sad that I spent more time with the fake you than the real you," I told her.
"No worries, Mom. I'm just happy to hear you got your memories of me back. That means I won't have to get intercepted by Dad anymore when I call wanting to talk to you," she replied. "I miss the long talks we used to have."
We gave each other a hug and I was hesitant to let go, "My phone line is always open for you, Tulip. I may not be able to give the best advice right now, but if you need to bend someone's ear, I'm there for you."
We headed out to the airport, where Frannie and Gary had been waiting for us, after making sure everyone else's luggage made it aboard the plane. The plane didn't seem quite as scary since I'd flown under my own power, but I still wouldn't be adding one to my Christmas list.
The plane took off, and I had no clue which direction we are heading. I started to wonder if everyone else was in on this special stop. I assumed they were. Little did they know, once we turned and were pointed in the direction of home, I had a surprise of my own.
Fairly quickly the plane made its descent and we landed. We filed out of the plane to see yet another snow covered view. So far the surprise wasn't too impressive. I looked around and saw nothing that told me the landscape was different than any of the other ones I'd seen while in Alaska.
"Wait for it," Nate told me. I thought that was what I'd been doing, but evidently I hadn't tilted my head the right direction for it to be effective.
All of a sudden a giant white horse landed in front of us, which caused me to take a step back. The horse not only had a single horn on the top of his head, but he also had a ten-foot-wide wingspan.
"Pegasus," I said in awe. I didn't know of any other white, winged horses, so I hoped I hadn't offended him by using that name.
He bowed slightly and said, "The king and queen of the phoenixes. I'm honored you have chosen to visit us."
"As are we at the fact that you have come to greet us personally," Nate replied. "My queen here was hoping to see the unicorns before we left Alaska."
"That will not be a problem. My children always love showing off for visitors," he said and he took to the skies. "Just follow me."
We remained on foot as he led us to a snow meadow; I didn't really have a better term for it. The meadow was full of about fifty white horses with single horns, better known to most as unicorns.
"Oh my goodness, look at them all," I said, taking in the view. They looked to be all full-grown, which was a little sad, because I imagined the babies were the cutest things. "I thought the skin-walker was joking about having to come help the sick unicorn."
I hadn't really given it a lot of thought, but I assumed since she was a giant liar, the part about visiting the unicorns was part of that. The fact that they'd existed had been backed up by the others, but I didn't think I'd get to see them.
"Elizabeth told me she made the journey the skin-walker mentioned the week before," Nate said.
"This is so cool," I said, unable to take my eyes away from the scene before me. "What are some facts you can tell me about them?"
"As you heard Pegasus allude to, he is the king of the unicorns. He is the only one of them that can fly, though. Their tears can cure illnesses and their horns can be deadly weapons," Vinnie informed me.
"Where did you read that, Wikipedia?" I asked him.
"No, Rick helped me download copies of many of your ancient texts. He figured having a computer that is able to process thousands of times faster than a human would make research a lot easier. I'm almost done indexing everything for easy access," he replied.
Rick and Nate were going to get smacked at some point. I didn't think it was nice to do it in front of our present company, but it wasn't right that they were letting Vinnie read the books and not me.
"That's pretty cool, I suppose. I'm guessing they've made it so I don't have unlimited access to your newfound knowledge," I said.
"You would be right, but I am getting you some copies of our son's books, so you'll be able to study up on the different kinds of uniques and other vital information," Nate responded. "After we ran into the menagerie in Eek, it's best you know what's out there and whether we have knowledge that would help you in a fight."
His words were music to my ears, and made the hour of watching the unicorns play even more enjoyable. When I finally had enough, we went back to the plane. Just before takeoff, I put my little plan into action.
"Well, I think one plane trip is enough for me in a day. We'll see you guys back at the house," I said, before reciting a spell I'd been working on. For how short it was, it was sad that it'd taken me more than a minute to put it together. "We are here, but want to be there; take me and Nate to his big comfy chair."
I closed my eyes, not sure what was going to happen, and suddenly felt like I was sitting on something lumpy, since I had been standing, it was definitely a change. I wiggled around a little and figured out the lumpiness was Nate.
"You know, you could've warned me you were going to do that," he said as he resituated me into a more comfortable position.
As he was moving me, I felt a sharp pain in my head that quickly went away. I was going to have to look into spellcasting causing headaches. The other headaches I'd experienced could be tied to me working a little magic, so I assumed there was some sort of correlation.
"What fun would it have been if you were prepared?" I asked.
"For you, probably none. For me, probably the same answer, but I could've at least closed my eyes. With them open, I got a sense of vertigo that wasn't enjoyable. We should probab
ly call Rick and let him know we didn't just fall off the face of the earth."
"I got it," I said as I mentally sent Rick a message, saying we made it home safe. The telepathy thing wasn't tied to the sorceress stuff, at least I didn't think it was, and I didn't receive any extra head pains.
Romeo and Juliet scampered in to greet us. "Oh my little babies," I said, jumping up and running to pet them. "Mommy missed you guys so much. We're bringing new people home to play with you guys. You're never going to be bored again. We even found you a little fox to play with. Won't that be great?"
They were happy to just be getting their bellies rubbed and didn't care what I was saying. When they'd had their fill of me, they ran over and jumped on Nate's lap, where he proceeded to pet them as well.
"How in the world did you guys get in the house?" my father said from the doorway.
"I may have picked up a little magic while we were in Alaska and used it to bypass an unnecessary plane ride," I informed him, with a smile plastered on my face.
"Did you get everything sorted out with Elizabeth?" my mother asked, pushing my father out of the way to get a look at me.
"Yup, we should be all sorted. When the plane lands, the household is going to double. We brought back a couple berserkers, the king of the wolves and a fox who thinks I saved her life. I did actually save her life, but she's taking her repayment for that a little too far."
"You make the most interesting friends," my dad said. That wasn't the first time I'd heard that, but it was becoming even truer.
Nate dove in, telling them more details about what really went on during the trip. They were intrigued by the idea that I could cast spells. I didn't really want to suffer another headache, so I told them all demonstrations would have to wait for a later date.
"It's so nice to have you guys back," my mother said. "We found this note taped to the door yesterday. It was addressed to you, so we didn't open it."
She retrieved the note from a nearby table and handed it to me. I could tell I wasn't going to like its contents. Nothing ever good came from a note taped to the door.
"Thanks, Mom," I said, grabbing the note. I opened it to find a disturbing letter.
Dear Miss Phoenix Queen,
You have made a grave mistake murdering my son and daughter-in-law. I was previously going to just kill you, but you have upped the stakes. I think I will start by having my minions keep you a little busy for a while, and then, when you least expect it, I will come for you.
Now I know my son was lacking the proper brain cells to make his IQ even close to normal, but that doesn't change the fact that he was mine. I hope you are getting over that little fear you have a flying, because I have a feeling you are going to be taking a lot of trips in the future.
Until we meet and I am bathing in your blood,
Master
It was a little disturbing he knew about my fear of flying, and that he actually went by the name Master. I'd have to make sure I broke his crystal ball when we met, which I knew was something that would eventually happen.
"Who's it from?" Nate asked. He'd been nice enough to let me read it before trying to snatch it out of my hands.
"Just our new best friend. It seems our trip to Alaska has totally changed this game of chess. I hope you and everyone else is ready to battle," I said as I handed him the note.
It had been a long few days and I was ready for that bath I promised myself. I doubted the "master" was going to show up demanding to fight within the next hour, so I let myself relax and put off any worries until a later date.
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THE END
AFTERWORD
If you want to know the end, look at the beginning
Well that's it. One more of Avery's adventures down. This was another fun book to write and about midway through I was thinking I would wrap everything up in one last book, but I figured out I had too many more ideas for stories floating around in my head.
As I go through the books, I want to get the idea across that Avery's abilities are growing, and they're really strong, but I want to walk the fine line of making it seem ridiculous, which when the possibilities are endless is kind of hard. I've been trying to put in checks and balances, and I think the next book will delve more into the idea that using magic always has a price.
The next book will have at least one wedding and we will meet more of the "master's" little minions, who of course are up to no good. The good news for Avery is she won't have to fly for this trip, even though it doesn't scare her as much anymore.
Thank you to those of you who have kept reading this series. I know the subject and my writing style isn't for everyone, but I've seen notes and comments letting me know people are interested in finding out what happens next. As long as there's one person out there who wants to know, I'll make sure we get to the conclusion.
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Amber?
About the Author
Amber has always had a passion for the written word. Along with that, she's always had ideas for stories swimming around in her head. It finally got to the point where she couldn't take it anymore and had to start getting her thoughts down on paper. There are still too many ideas, but she is working to get them out as fast as she can. Her hope is that one day her brain will be hers again.
Other hobbies of Amber's include: drawing, baking, arts and crafts, motorcycles, hockey and archery. She likes to think she has eclectic tastes where her hobbies are concerned. She loves to laugh and tries to make herself smile at least once a day. With the crazy thoughts going on in her head that usually isn't hard.
Other books by Amber Lynn:
Argonauts' Adventures
The Witch's Web
The Dragon's Fire
Daughter of Gaia Series
Daughter of Gaia
Queen of Aquima
Nightwalker Saga
The Nightwalker Knocks
The Nightwalker Teaches
Unlucky in Love series
Calypso in Love
Nani in Love
Rhea in Love
Hermia in Love
Desma in Love
Nyx Slaughter series
Night Calls
Night Marks
Night Bites
Night Howls
Night Lurks
Night Finds
Night Rises
Nyx Slaughter: Books 1-7
More Books
Searching for Home
Between Blood
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