Lure

  Chapter 25

  DAVID

  Cearo and I were in good spirits when we got back to the bog. Diving to the antechamber didn’t bother me at all. I felt like I’d never be afraid of anything again after surviving, and even befriending, the kelpie. Did I need to be now that the water elementals were protecting me?

  I walked into the main room with a wide smile plastered on my face. Mom and Eric’s conversation stopped suddenly. They were probably talking about Cearo again. Hopefully this would make things better. I held up the pieces of the kelpie’s mane and said to Mom, “Blue seaweed.”

  Her mouth fell open in shock. I waited for it to wear off before her joyous exclamations would begin. That’s not what I got though. Instead of being happy, she turned angry eyes on Cearo and yelled, “You made him hunt a kelpie?!” She stormed over, looking like she’d tackle Cearo.

  My smile vanished instantly, and I put myself between them. “Mom, stop — ”

  “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! They can overpower a full-grown fairy!” Mom was screaming and trying to push past me. Cearo was behind me, so I had no idea how she was reacting, but she hadn’t said anything in defense yet.

  “Mom! Calm down! Look at me. I’m fine.” I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at me instead of Cearo. “I’m fine. Nothing happened. Well, something happened, but it was good!”

  “What? What happened?” She started searching me for injuries, having paid zero attention to my clarification.

  I pried her hands off me as she lifted the arm holding the mane, looking for any hidden bites or bruises. I pushed them back down to her sides. “Really, Mom, I’m fine. My appendages are all still attached and functional. Can you wrap Eric’s ankle while we tell you the story?”

  Mom hesitated and threw one last glare at Cearo. “While you tell the story,” she said to me. She snatched the mane and took it over to Eric.

  Eric had been silent and confused this whole time. When Mom knelt down and uncovered his ankle, he asked, “Blue seaweed? You lost me there. Way back there.”

  “It’s actually hair from a kelpie’s mane. They’re related to unicorns and have some healing powers. We’ll bind your ankle with this and it should be better by tomorrow morning,” Mom explained.

  “Sweet,” Eric said.

  “Now just how did you manage to get it?” Mom asked me.

  Here we go. “We found one upriver. At first it chased me.” I decided to leave out just how close it had come to catching me. “But then these blue lights flashed in front of me. I didn’t know what they were, but they made the kelpie stop.”

  “Blue lights?” She froze.

  “Yeah. Cearo said they’re water elementals.” She looked to Cearo for confirmation. Cearo nodded. “Anyway, the kelpie was actually pretty docile after it saw them. It let me cut some of its mane.”

  “It let you do it? Not Cearo?”

  I didn’t know why that was important, but I answered, “Yeah. I think it would have let her, but it seemed more interested in me.”

  Mom didn’t say anymore as she finished binding Eric’s ankle. When she finished, she replied simply, “Okay.” She nodded to herself and went to store the bit of mane that remained.

  I was amazed that was all she had to say after how pissed off she’d gotten. I wasn’t sure what questions to ask though. I didn’t know what was going on in her head.

  She came back into the room trying very hard to appear fine and not worried at all. “Cearo, all this food is old. Shall we go try to find something fresher?”

  Cearo agreed even though it was an obvious ploy to get her alone. They walked into the antechamber and were gone. I just hoped Mom wouldn’t actually hit her now that I wasn’t between them. Who would win between them? Cearo’s badass but never underestimate my mom when she’s pissed.

  Eric’s thoughts had evidently aligned with mine. “Think they’ll kill each other?”

  “I guess we’ll find out when only one of them comes back.” We laughed somewhat awkwardly before lapsing into silence. I sat down next to him. Still awkward. I couldn’t help but feel like we’d been on opposing sides for most of this trip. I sighed.

  “So water elementals, huh?” he said.

  “Yeah,” I replied, smiling. “Cearo said they’re protecting me.”

  “Mom said she saw some blue lights by the siren when she dove for me.”

  “Really? Maybe it was them. Maybe they’re protecting you too.” That would be awesome.

  “I don’t think so. Mom said they were fading when she got down there. They’d probably been there for you and were just leaving.” He sounded sad, and I felt guilty again. Why did this world seem to like me more? “So what else happened? You and Cearo…?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Dude, you look at her with goo-goo eyes.” He attempted to laugh at me, but it came out uncomfortable again.

  I did? Damn. “Nothing, man. Can you actually imagine that?” I laughed it off even though I kind of wanted a real answer.

  “No, definitely not.” Eric gave a real smile for a second as he pictured it. “I can’t imagine her…. But that’s sort of the point.”

  “The point?”

  “I can’t imagine her actually giving a shit about anyone…so be careful.” He’d gone serious again, obviously worried that heartless Cearo would break me.

  “There’s nothing to worry about,” I said defensively. Not only did I have no need for a take-it-slow lecture, as nothing was happening, but Cearo wasn’t heartless. I didn’t know how to make them believe that. Mostly because I didn’t have much evidence to support it besides my own intuition. “She’s really not that bad, you know.”

  “Mom says she doesn’t know how to care about people. She’s been alone a long time, probably her whole life.”

  I knew she’d been alone too long. That was certainly the reason for some of her quirks, like how she rarely speaks. She’s just not used to it. “But doesn’t that mean the solution is to be around her? Be her friend?”

  “No, it’s a reason to stay away from her. She doesn’t know how to be decent.” He looked at me like I was nuts.

  “If she had friends, then maybe she’d get better. Stay away from her and she stays alone and the same.”

  I didn’t know why we were arguing this. I was sure we were stuck with Cearo whether we liked it or not until we were out of this world. Then we’d go our separate ways whether we liked it or not. And neither of us were going to budge on our opinions, so I just dropped it.

  After a few minutes of strained silence, I yawned. It had been an insane day, and it was finally hitting me how tired I was. Eric caught my yawn, so we wordlessly agreed to sleep and leave this argument for another day.

  When I woke, Mom and Cearo were back. Neither were dead or sporting a black eye. That was a good sign. Mom was asleep in front of the fire. They must have just gotten back, because she was still wet from the bog. Cearo was in the same spot as last night, and while her book was out, she was staring off into space, rather than drawing.

  She sensed my gaze. I went to her side, so we could talk without waking the others.

  “Thanks for getting the kelpie,” I said. I may have been the one to actually get what we needed, but I wouldn’t have known how if she hadn’t made the decision to help Eric.

  “They still do not trust me.”

  I refused to tell her about my conversation with Eric. He was a lost cause and I didn’t see the point in telling her if she couldn’t do anything about it. “What did you and my mom talk about?”

  She hesitated. Finally she said, “You are the first person any free elemental has shown itself to in centuries.”

  That took a moment to sink in. “Really? I’m the first human in centuries?”

  “Human or fairy.”

  Whoa. The only thing my brain could manage to ask was, “Why?”

  “They have not shown themselves since the split between Seelie and UnSeelie occurred. I believe
they were disappointed in our pettiness…. I do not know what it means for them to reveal themselves to you.” She spoke carefully. She either didn’t want to tell me what she thought it meant or she was bothered by the fact that she actually didn’t know something.

  “Is it a bad thing? Because if the kelpie was any indication, it doesn’t seem bad.”

  “No, not bad…strange,” she said.

  “Well, that’s an understatement. This whole situation is strange,” I pointed out. Her expression turned worried, so I grinned to reassure her. “But that’s okay. You and my mom don’t hate each other anymore, right?”

  “She is uneasy….” She didn’t go on. She pulled her body in like she was trying to make herself as small as possible. She was the one who was uneasy right now.

  “Because she doesn’t think you’re capable of caring about anyone?” She curled in on herself, completely hiding her face and didn’t respond. I knew that was an awful question, but if I was going to gather some evidence for Mom and Eric to prove she wasn’t ice cold, then I needed to know what I was working with. I asked as quietly and non-threateningly as I could, “Have you ever loved someone?”

  When she peeked at me, I flashed back to the prison and the fleeting expression of sorrow that I thought I had seen on her. There was no mistaking it now. The misery was etched into every line of her face. It was the deepest, most intense sadness I had ever seen. I couldn’t breathe with her looking at me that way.

  And why was she? I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t have. Right?

  “Yes,” she finally whispered. She turned away, and I could breathe again.

  Carefully, not knowing if I even wanted to know the answer, I asked, “What happened?”

  She didn’t answer right away. “He died.” That was all she gave me. The silence was heavy.

  “Cearo?” No response. Not even a twitch. She was gone.

  Maybe this line of questioning had been a mistake after all. I’d pushed her even further into her own head than she normally was. And I wasn’t sure if she’d ever come out again.

  “I wish you’d be happy again,” I said. Still nothing. “You have a nice smile.” I don’t think she even heard me. I didn’t wait for a response that time. I just lay down to sleep.

  I dreamed I was running. I was far away from them. They needed my help. I had to get to them. I would get them and bring them back there, to far away. I ran. Almost to them. A voice screamed from where I’d come, barely audible now that I was in the far away. Before I could look, something hit me in the back.

  I woke up fast. Cearo was there, still asleep, mumbling something in a rough sounding language that felt familiar, although I couldn’t understand it.

  I sat up slowly, so I wouldn’t disturb her. Eric was awake across the room. He’d taken one of Cearo’s pencils and was doodling on the wall. He gave a look that said he didn’t approve of me sleeping next to Cearo. I crossed over to his side and took another pencil. I added on some horns, fangs, and a devil’s tail to his drawing of the Seelie king. It was a perfect likeness. It may not have been very original, but Eric’s shoulders still bounced as he chuckled silently.

  “Any idea what time it is?” Eric asked.

  “No clue. It was light outside when Cearo and I came back. I don’t know how long I slept though. Is the cabin fever hitting you?”

  “Nah. It’s just weird not being able to see the sun for so long. Throws off all sense of time.”

  “It can’t be past five a.m.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Mom’s sleeping, not baking.” We both laughed. Mom was up and baking by five o’clock at the latest. No exceptions, not even being stuck in a different world. It also wouldn’t matter that she had nothing to bake here. She’d still wake up expecting to do it.

  Right as we got ourselves under control, Mom did wake up and without a word, went to the cupboard. She came out with a pot of water and various foods. She made a quick stew and stuck it over the dying fire. “When Cearo wakes up, she can get that going strong again.” She noticed us grinning at her. “What?”

  Eric and I burst into a new fit of laughter. “It’s not baking but close enough,” he gasped out.

  “What?” Mom said.

  “We wanted to know what time it is. It’s five,” I said. She didn’t get it. “Because you’re awake and baking — well, cooking.”

  She looked back and forth between us. “You two must be really starved for comedy,” she said, but she was smiling too. “Oh Cearo, can you get the fire going again?” We’d woken her up, and she was staring at us like we were purple-spotted, five-headed aliens. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if that kind of creature actually existed somewhere in this world. I asked Mom about it. She and Eric looked at me like I was high. Then the laughter started all over again.

  “Where the hell did that come from?” Eric asked.

  “I don’t know. I just thought of it,” I said. “Mom’s right, we are starved for comedy.”

  “I’m glad you’re not permanently traumatized,” she said. She turned to fiddle with the pot. Cearo went over to help, though somewhat reluctantly. The flames roared back to life and soon we were chowing down on Mom’s not-terrible stew.

  “I want to show you all something,” Cearo said out of nowhere.

  “Okay,” I responded when no one else did. Cearo didn’t move, so I went on, “What is it?”

  “It will be on our way to the gate…sort of.”

  “Sort of?” I knew Mom and Eric would be hesitant of going anywhere that wasn’t straight for the gate.

  “It is maybe an hour out of the way,” she confessed. “But it is worth it. You should all see it.”

  “Are you going to tell us what ‘it’ is?” Mom asked.

  “Just a place.” Cearo paused and noticed Mom’s suspicious gaze. I guess their chat yesterday hadn’t fixed everything. There wasn’t any venom in it though. That was a start. “A grove,” Cearo clarified.

  Mom considered, then shrugged as if it was no big deal. “Alright, as long as it doesn’t take more than an hour or two. Eric, how’s your ankle?”

  He stood and tested it. “Feels good as new,” he said when he put all of his weight on it.

  “Great, let’s get going.” Mom herded us all toward the antechamber.

  We made it out to the bog in record time. We were getting used to this kind of stuff, and I wondered how we would get used to L.A. again. The thought made me sad for some reason, so I pushed it out of my mind.

  “Has there been any sign of our fairy friends?” Eric asked before we got on our way.

  We all told him no, but we took a minute to look and listen for anything out of the ordinary. Not finding anything, Cearo went over to a tree and stuck her hand in. I had to do a double take because the cut in the tree was only just visible if you were looking for it. She pulled out more furs and tossed them to each of us. She gave me two, one that was a large blanket like the rest and one that was smaller with a hole in the middle.

  “You can wear that if you want to,” she said.

  I put it on. It fit like a poncho, an unevenly cut poncho. Not very stylish, but I didn’t care. It was functional.

  “It is approximately two days to the gate from here,” she told us. “I do not have any more hide-outs directly on the path. We will have to camp.” She waited for our nods of approval before taking off, which was a new one.

  “We did go to Yosemite to camp,” Eric said before heading off in the direction he thought was right. He almost was, so Cearo was able to steer him straight without any fuss. We set off, furs in tow, just as the sun awakened. Cearo also carried a bow and a set of arrows that she’d retrieved from the hollow. I wondered what she anticipated using them for.