The Flame and the Arrow

  Chapter 10

  the powers of pixie dust

  Finn’s younger brother had kept to himself most of the day, and even at the dinner table Talvi was quiet as a mouse. His mother asked if he was feeling well, but he only smiled and replied that he was just fine.

  After the dishes had been cleared, he led Annika into a parlor where numerous lamps lit the room brightly. Runa grinned and patted the space next to her where she was curled up on a settee, and Annika took the seat. Yuri was playing with Stella, and Althea held her grandson in her arms while Anthea played piano for them. It was a large grand, and she plinked away while her father smoked his pipe beside her. Talvi sat on the floor near Annika and reached under the settee, pulling out a small wooden box inlaid with mother-of-pearl camels. He opened it and took out a small leather pouch of tobacco and a package of rolling papers, fashioning a cigarette for himself. They listened to Anthea play for a while, but she kept faltering at her notes.

  “Darling, why don’t you take a break? We’ll have Yuri play something for us,” her mother suggested as she swayed back and forth with Sloan.

  “I just don’t…I can’t understand why I can’t remember the notes,” she stammered, and covered her eyes with her hand as she stood up. Ambrose held her in his arm and said something inaudible in her ear, and she gave a weak smile.

  Yuri cracked her knuckles and stood up, but she passed by the piano and found a violin instead.

  “Annika, why don’t you play with her?” Talvi asked.

  “I play electric guitar,” she tried to excuse. “I can’t remember the last time I played an acoustic.”

  It didn’t matter what her excuse was, because Talvi had already found an old Spanish guitar mounted on the wall and handed it to her. Annika didn’t feel worthy to hold such a lovely thing in her hands, but the instrument spoke to her and beckoned to be played. She strummed it a few times, and only needed to adjust the strings a tiny bit to get it in tune.

  “Alright, I doubt you’ve ever heard this song, but it’s one of my favorites.” She’d barely picked out the first handful of notes when Talvi laughed and sauntered over to the piano.

  “Over the Hills and Far Away? What an appropriate choice considering where you are,” he smirked, and sat down at the bench to play. Annika was so pleasantly surprised that she completely forgot the first measure of lyrics to the song she knew so well. She watched his fingers dance effortlessly along the keys, and soon Runa and Hilda were humming along with them. The experience was remarkable to Annika, as if the elves and nymphs had always known about Led Zeppelin. They played for almost an hour and she wanted to play more, but it was clearly someone’s bedtime. Althea couldn’t keep Sloan from fussing any longer, and Stella was fast asleep in Anthea’s lap. Talvi pulled the cover over the piano keys and watched his parents help Anthea take her children to bed.

  “I can’t believe how this thing sounds! Is this a magical guitar?” Annika asked no one in particular.

  “Oh dear…did someone give Annika some of my pixie dust when I wasn’t looking?” Finn asked with a sly grin.

  “You have pixie dust?” Yuri squeaked.

  “Yes, I do,” Finn smiled.

  “You do not!” his sister argued.

  “I do so. I just got it the other day.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “You’ll see soon enough.”

  “What does pixie dust do?” Annika asked curiously. Sariel stood up with her nose in the air.

  “It makes you do asinine things like invite vampires to your own birthday party, that’s what.” Everyone grew quiet, and even Runa suppressed her giggles. Finn spoke up before the silence got too awkward.

  “You know that they’ll be here for Father’s meeting, don’t you? He included a letter inside of Konstantin’s party invitation.” Both Yuri and Sariel’s jaws dropped.

  “He invited them?” Sariel gasped in surprise.

  “He opened my invitation?” Yuri repeated in complete horror. But whereas Sariel just looked a little shocked, Yuri seemed overwhelmed with worry.

  “So when are they getting here?” Yuri seemed distraught.

  “Now don’t work yourself into a tizzy. They’ll be here in time to celebrate your birthday. It’s not exactly easy for them to get around,” her older brother reminded her. She still seemed irritated that her party hadn’t been the only reason for their R.S.V.P. and even more irritated that her father had tampered with her allegedly sealed invitation.

  “Great, I guess we’re on coffin duty,” Talvi sneered.

  “Coffins? They really sleep in them? I thought that was just movie stuff,” Annika asked in disbelief.

  “Well, what if they walked in their sleep? I dare say they’d wake up a little toasted,” Finn chortled, and reached for Talvi’s cigarette box.

  “That’s not very nice, Finn,” Hilda said reproachfully.

  “Hey Runa, weren’t you telling me that the vampires crave human blood more than animals? What about me? If I’m supposed to be at this meeting does that mean I’m screwed?” asked Annika.

  “Well, it’s not, um—”

  “I can’t predict whether or not you’ll be screwed by the time of their arrival, but you ought to be escorted everywhere whilst they’re among us,” said Talvi.

  “Don’t worry, she’ll be with us constantly,” Hilda snickered. He tried hard to hide his displeasure while the samodivi exchanged amused glances. Yuri ignored them as best as she could.

  “Are you guys all going to be at this meeting?” Annika asked. Everyone nodded their heads.

  “All of us except Anthea. I’m not sure if she’ll have the strength for it,” Finn answered.

  “What’s the matter with her? I noticed her act strange tonight,” Hilda asked. Finn looked at the floor for a moment and then into Hilda’s eyes.

  “Her husband Asbjorn is trapped on the other side, or some other place in between.” Hilda and Runa seemed greatly upset at the news, but Sariel didn’t flinch. Apparently she had learned this when she had reached the house before them.

  “That place looks so awful! How would he even survive?” Annika asked.

  “You’ve seen it?” Yuri implored her. “I’ve only heard of it.”

  “It’s really creepy,” Annika admitted, feeling shivers go down her spine. “It’s like a desert with black sand and the sky’s all red.”

  “I try not to think about how narrowly we escaped it,” Runa cringed at the memory as well. “Poor Anthea! Those poor babies! I hope we can find their father!”

  “Let’s not talk about this anymore,” Sariel said, still standing. “We shouldn’t bother getting all worked up when we don’t know enough about that place. We’ll know more soon.”

  “Not soon enough,” Yuri mumbled.

  “This will calm you down,” Finn said, and handed a lit cigarette to his sister, who took a couple puffs.

  “You’d just think we could put our heads together and…” Yuri trailed off, at a loss for words.

  “And?” Finn asked, wearing an uncharacteristic grin that was typically sported by his brother.

  “You’d just think…” She scratched her head and handed the cigarette to Sariel, who took a deep drag. And then another. And then another.

  “You’d just think that somewhere around here there have got to be six hundred red and white roses!” Talvi and Finn burst out in hysterical laughter as Sariel choked on the smoke.

  “You put pixie dust in this?” she screeched while looking at the little stub in her fingers. She tried to look annoyed at them, but sure enough, within seconds her face had melted into the sweetest smile Annika had seen. It was a welcome change from the perpetual frown she always wore. Yuri stood up and took Sariel by the arm.

  “We need to go and look at the arrangements I have made so far! I want to know what you think of the tablecloths I found! Come on!” The two of them giggled as they stepped out of the room and together they tore down the hallway, hooting along the way with giddy laught
er.

  “Wow, that stuff works pretty fast,” Annika said, mystified at the potency.

  “I can’t believe you fooled Sariel. She hasn’t fallen for that in a long time,” Hilda said, shaking her head a little in disapproval of Finn’s behavior.

  “I was only trying to cheer up Yuri. Father’s been snooping through her mail. And I can’t help it if Sariel smokes like a chimney!” Finn laughed again.

  “What’s going to happen to them?” Annika wondered.

  “Oh, they’ll probably come up with some fabulous idea for the party and then fall asleep before they write it down. I doubt they will even remember what they did tomorrow morning,” Hilda sighed.

  “But it’s not harmful at all,” Finn assured Annika. “You’d have to smoke all the time to have any negative effects.”

  “It sounds like it could be fun. I’ll try just about anything once,” Annika said.

  “Would you really?” Talvi asked from his place at the piano bench. Her eyes darted over to his but he only smiled innocently.

  “Talvi, I’m curious. How many people did you invite to this party anyway?” Finn asked his brother. Talvi bit his lip as he counted on his hands.

  “Perhaps two…no…three hundred…hmm… I honestly don’t know,” he shrugged a little, and Finn let out a howl of laughter.

  “You’re in such hot water if you don’t even know how many guests will be here,” he said, wiping a tear from his eye. “I’m not bailing you out this time.”

  “Pish Posh,” he said, and motioned for Runa to bring over his box of tobacco. “Mother and Father are well aware of the parties I throw.”

  “Yes, but unfortunately, so is everyone else in the area. Who’s going to be watching the door for the pixies? Remember what happened last time they showed up?” Talvi stopped rolling his cigarette and lifted a brow, giving his brother a smile. It was not so much a hopeful smile as much it was an expectant one.

  “Me?” Finn groaned loudly. “Why can’t you find someone else?”

  “You know everyone as well as I do, and I’ll be too busy tending to details,” Talvi said, and lit his cigarette.

  “What details have you tended to, anyway?” Finn inquired with a skeptical expression.

  “You’ll see,” he said, but offered no elaboration on what he had up his sleeve.

  Runa gave a big yawn and Hilda pulled her up from the comfortable cushions they’d been resting on. She motioned for Annika to join them, but Annika was reluctant to leave. While she was curious about the powers of pixie dust, the allure of having two sexy brothers all to herself was harder to resist.

  “It’s getting late, and we’re all going to town first thing in the morning,” Hilda told her. She stood in place with Runa, waiting for Annika to get up and join them before bidding the brothers good night. Although she was frustrated with Hilda for making her cut her evening short, she knew it was for the best. Still, one foot dragged in front of the other, and she found herself trailing behind next to Runa as Hilda marched ahead. When she arrived at her room she quietly pulled her aside.

  “Hey, Runa, can I ask you something?”

  “Of course,” she said sweetly. “You can ask me anything.”

  “Do you know what ‘Maurice toe companya vlatzee’ means?”

  “Do you mean mo rees toe comp an ya vlatzee?” Her brown eyes got very large, but not as large as the smile spread across her face.

  “Yeah, that’s it. What does it mean?”

  “Who told you that? Oh, it was Talvi, wasn’t it?” Runa asked, still wide-eyed in amusement. Annika glanced at her toes, but eventually nodded her head. “Oh my, I haven’t heard that one in a while!” Runa covered her mouth, but her eyes now had a dreamy look in them.

  “It’s not bad, is it?” Annika asked, and leaned against the doorway.

  “I really can’t translate it. I don’t speak the language as well as he does. There’s so much that gets lost in the interpretation.”

  “Can’t you give me a rough idea?” Annika was dying of curiosity.

  “Well, yes, but it sounds so unrefined,” Runa hesitated.

  “I don’t care. Just tell me!” she urged. Runa finally caved in, not that it took much convincing.

  “Word for word it means something like, ‘lick my bees’ legs’.”

  “That sounds a little vulgar,” Annika said, wrinkling her nose.

  “No, no, no!” Runa shook her head. “It’s a saying in Fae, the language of the fairies. A lot of what they say gets misinterpreted. Anyway, you must know how the flowers are such an important part of their lives?”

  “Uh, sure,” Annika nodded, figuring fairies and flowers just went hand in hand.

  “So, pretend you are a flower stuck in the ground, and Talvi is another flower, far across the meadow, and the bees…you send them back and forth to one another, and, you know, it’s…” Runa blushed bright red.

  “What? Come on, Runa! What is it?” Annika was anxiously awaiting the explanation.

  “It’s the only way you two can make love!” she hissed.

  “Oh, right, because the bees are pollinating them,” Annika whispered, recalling Vince telling her this when she was very young. “So he…I guess he wants to send some bees my way pretty bad, huh?” Runa giggled again and her blonde hair trembled with her laughing body.

  “Yes, I think it’s quite obvious that he does. I wish you spoke Fae so you would understand its meaning better. You’ll have to trust me on this. What he said is so much more beautiful than I can ever explain.”