“No, I like Gram.” We pull up outside the house.
Chapter 3.
Over the next couple of weeks our little group, researches pixies and forms a plan to destroy them. Chris and I grow closer and Gram decides to make him my protector.
Chris looks at me from the other end of class. I smile at him and he smiles back. The bell rings and we head for his car. There is an arrow stuck in the tire. “Pixies!” He kicks the car and they come out of the trees next to us. One grabs me from behind. “Chr...” He swizzles on his heels. His muscles ripple and he growls. The pixie holding me lets go and I drop to the floor. They all leave and Noah followed by Alice wheels over to us. “Hey you two alright?” Chris takes deep breaths trying to calm himself. Alice helps me up. “Pixies attacked us, one grabbed me from behind. They know he’s a were now so they will tell my father.” I point to Chris and he finally says. “Are you alright?”
“Yep, I’m fine. We have to tell Gram about this.” We all head back to mine in Alice’s car.
When Gram gets back we tell her about the pixies. “They’re getting bolder.”
“Yeah that’s what I’m afraid of Chris.” She puts the tea cup on the counter. “We have to go ahead with the plan early.”
“But we have to wait for the right moment.” I insist. Gram smiles at me and pats my shoulder. “They are getting bolder, which means they will be after you.” She sighs. “They will try anything.” I nod and look over at Chris. “So that means no book club?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“But what if I’ve already had a pixie in the house Gram?”
“I don’t know.”Chris and the others leave and Gram sends me to my room. I can smell burning and soap. “Gram, are you in the bathroom?!”
“No sweetie I’m down stairs burning spaghetti!” she shouts back up to me. Then she adds. “Why?”
“Because I can smell soap!” my wardrobe door creaks. “Urm, Gram could you come up here a minute?!”
“Not right now hon.”
“Please!” I can hear the desperation in my voice. I open my bedroom door and pear down the stairs. The living room is full of unglamored pixies, a glamor is a kind of pixie magic that hides their true form. “Gram!” I slam my Bed room door and fiddle with my phone. I hit the call button and Chris answers the phone straight away. “What’s wrong?”
“Pixies are in the house. The whole book club is damn pixies!”
“Ok stay put. I’m just down the road. Stay where you are, do not go near them ok?” his voice is frantic and worried. “Ok?”
“Yeah ok.” He hangs up and there is a knock at the door.
“Amy, darling open the door for mummy.”
“What?”
“Please open the door, let me in the pixies are scaring me.”
“Mom?”
“Yes dear.”
I shake my head. “No my mom’s dead, I saw her she is dead and you are not her!” the pixie bangs on the door. “Let me in princess.” I hear thumping up the stairs. “Hey, pixie get away from that door!” Chris’ voice rings in my ears. My wardrobe door flies open and a pixie wraps it’s hands around my throat. “Say good bye Princess!” The door bursts open and Chris slams into the pixie. My head jerks and I smack my head on the bed stead. Blood pours from the gash and Chris turns to me. “Amy!”
“I’m alright.” The pixie stands up behind him. “Chris!” he spins round and pushes the pixie into the wall. “Go into the bathroom and lock the door!”
“Ok.” I run to the bath room. And slam the door. I slide the lock and sit on the toilets seat. I start to quote star wars. The screaming and growling stops. I try and look outside through the small window. The snow is pinkie-orange and there are two sets of paw prints leading across the field towards the woods. The room spins and I hold myself up on the sink. I look at myself in the mirror. I have a big cut on the side of my forehead. The right side of my face is like a water fall of blood. I grab the sink again to steady myself.
The front door slams and Chris and Gram both run up the stairs. “Amy, are you alright?” Gram bangs on the door. “Amy, open the door. I stagger to the door and open it. I hold myself up on the door frame. “I’m fine.” Gram wraps her arm around me. Chris’ mouth drops open. “No you’re not come on let’s get you patched up.” She leads me down stairs. The living room is trashed. The settee is flipped and the curtains are ripped. The roses that were on the coffee table are all over the floor and the vase is smashed into tiny shards. Blood covers the carpet. Gram leads me to the kitchen. She sits me at the breakfast bar and gets the first aid kit out. She cleans my face and steri-strips my wound. Chris looks at me his eyes are dark and worried. When Gram is done they sort the living room out and Chris comes back into the kitchen. “Are you alright?” I ask him as he opens the fridge and pours two glasses of apple juice. “Yeah I’m fine. Are you ok?” He turns round and smiles. I can tell it’s fake and he is worried, his eyes show it. I smile back and take the glass off him. “Yeah I’ve had worse.” I point to my head and sip the juice.
Chris opens the big double doors to the school. Alice runs over to us and wraps her arms around me. I give Chris a ‘help me’ look. He smiles at me and walks over to Noah. Alice looks me up and down. “How bad was it? Did they hurt you? Oh my god what happened to your head? Are you ok? We were sooooooo worried.” She hugs me again. Chris and Noah come up to us. “Are you alright? Chris told me yesterday.” Noah looks up at me.
“I’m fine I’ve had much worse and no pixies are gonna scare me.”
“Ok, oh fearless leader.” Chris jokes I punch him and he grabs me in a head lock and starts to rub my hair. “Ow!” He lets go.
“Sorry babe.”
“Ha got ya!” Alice high fives me and we walk off. We go into the girls toilets.
“So what happened?”
“Not much, I could smell soap that’s when it started.” I bite my lip. “It was all the members of book club.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” I sit on the side next to the sinks. Sophie and her little group walk in. she whispers something and they all giggle. “Hey Sophie, if you’re going to say something about me say it to my face!” I jump down of the side and stand with my arms crossed over my chest. She turns round and glares at me. “What?”
“I said if you have something to say, say it to my face.” Alice runs out of the bath room. Sophie steps forward. She leans right into my face. “I said you are a pathetic, worthless, weirdo and that you only hang around with that big boy Chris so that no-one can hurt you.” She spits the words out. She smells like dove soap and cheap perfume. “I can hold my own thanks.”
“Let’s see shall we? Girls, let’s show Miss Benson where she belongs.” They all jump towards me. Alice opens the door and stares in shock.
Chapter 4
I walk out of the toilets and Chris looks at me. “What?” I smile at him and he grabs my arm. “What happened in there?”
“Nothing!” Sophie and her friends run out of the toilets.
“I’ll kill you Benson!” She shouts as she runs off down English.
“Amy what did you do?” Chris looks at me. He raises his eyebrow.
“I held my own.” Alice pulls at his shirt.
“She just beat plastic but!”
“What?” He looks back at me and lets go of my arm. “Amy you have to be careful.” I rub my arm and check my head is still bandaged.
“I know and I also found out that she is one of them.”
“What?”
“She is one of them.” He gets the hint.
“OH, are you sure?”
“Yes I’m sure.”
Sophie avoids me for the rest of the day. Chris, Alice and Noah come to mine for a drink and to talk about the pixies. We have to take action against them. But we argue about the right way to do that. Gram sends them all home before dark. We sit on the settee. She looks at me. “I heard about your incident tod
ay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I did you have to be careful. She could have done some serious damage to you.”
“I know.”
“Amy, I don’t think you understand.” She sits up strait.
“I understand Gram, I’m just not scared yet.”
“Well you should be.” That’s the end of the conversation. She goes into the kitchen and orders a pizza. I go up stairs out of the way.
The next day at school Chris and Noah keep on giving me dirty looks. “What is the matter with you two?”
“Nothing.”
“Well there is because you keep on giving me dirty looks.”
“No we don’t.”
“Yeah and pixies aren’t trying to kill us!”
“Amy, shh.” Chris drags me to one side. “You just don’t seem too bothered that pixies are trying to kill you.”
“That’s because I’m trying to hide it from them. If they know I’m scared they will play on it.” He shakes me and I push away. “You know what forget it. I’ll deal with this myself.” I turn my back on him and walk off.
I decide to skip last class and walk home. I open the door and throw my bag down on the floor. Gram’s boots are at the bottom of the stairs. “Gram?!”
“Up here sweetie!” I run up the stairs and into her room.
“Are you alright, why aren’t you at work?”
“The school rang they said that Chris had told them that you had gone missing.”
“What? No, I just skipped class because he was annoying me.”
“Amy, he’s just looking out for you.” She stands up and turns around. She has gauze stuck to the side if her face. “What happened?”
“Oh nothing, just a young pixie being clever. I’m fine.” She walks past me and back down the stairs. “I better ring the school and tell them you are home safe.” I follow her down stairs and she looks at the snow outside. “What?” she opens the kitchen door. “Stay inside.” She slams the door shut. She shifts into a beautiful, jet black panther. She didn’t tell me she was a were too. She runs off into the woods and someone knocks on the door. It makes me jump and I knock a glass of the kitchen table it smashes against the floor. “Oh Jesus!” I run to the door and peer through the tiny hole. Chris stands there fidgeting. I open the door. “What do you want?” He smiles at me and kicks the snow off his feet. “You wanna come in?” “Yes please. Look I’m sorry I went off at school. I shouldn’t have it wasn’t right.”
“No, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have had a go at you.” I bite my lip. He sits on the settee. His t-shirt rides up and shows his flat stomach. “Urm, Chris did you know about Sandra?”
“What about her?”
“The were part?”
“Yeah I thought she had told you.”
“No, that she kept from me.”
“OH, where is she?”
“She went off into the woods.” I sit next to him and he puts his arms round my shoulders. “I’m glad you’re here I feel safer.” He kisses the top of my head. “Oh, I almost forgot.” I jump up and he looks at me confused. “I smashed a glass when you knocked on the door.” I walk into the kitchen. I grab the dustpan and brush from the pantry and sweep up the broken shards. I throw them in the bin and stand up straight. A tall man stands at the window. His brown hair falls in loose ringlets. He puts his hand on the window and I move my hand up to the window but the man disappears and it feels like something pushes me backward. My back smashes into the cupboards and I drop to the floor. Chris must hear the crash because he comes running in. “Are you ok?” He helps me to my feet. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” I manage to nod as he leads me back in to the living room. “A man was at the window.”
“A man?”
“Yeah he put his hand to the window, I couldn’t help it I went to touch it and he was gone, poof, just gone.” I make a weird action with my hands. He grabs my wrists and holds my hands to my lap. I look at him. “Ok, you are in shock.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Men can’t just ‘poof’ gone.” he copies my motions, teasing, and then walks back into the kitchen. He comes back in with a glass of water. Sandra walks into the room. “You kids alright I saw the king head this way.” I nod and Chris stands up. He must whisper what happened into her ear because she sits next to me. “Is this true?”
“Is what true?”
“He was here at the window?”
“Yes, but I didn’t let him in Gram I swear.”
“It doesn’t matter dear he’s been in before.” Chris stands with his arms crossed. Sandra looks up at him. “It’s getting late you better stay here tonight Christopher.” She stands up and walks into the kitchen. “Ok, who wants burnt soup?” She shouts. Chris sits next to me on the settee.
“How do you burn soup?”
“It’s one of the many powers she possesses she can burn anything.”
“Oh, ok.” We watch T.V. while we eat our soup, which is surprisingly not burnt. Gram goes up to bed and I fall asleep on Chris’ chest. He kisses my head softly and whispers into my hair. “I will never let anyone hurt you Amy, I promise.”
Chapter 5
When I wake up Chris is running his fingers through my hair. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I sit up and yawn. He walks into the kitchen. I follow him and sit on the side. He leans over and kisses my cheek. His lips are so soft. I smile at him and he smiles back. Chris hands me a note that was attached to the fridge. “Good morning love birds. Now I’ve made sand witches, they’re in the fridge. Work called I have to go into the office. See you later and Christopher Andrews you lay one hand on her and I will tear you limb from limb got it? Love Sandra/Gram.” I read it out and he laughs. “What does she think I am an animal?” I jump down off the side. “I’m going to brush my teeth, there is a spare one in the cabinet.”
“Are you trying to hint at something cheeky?” He grabs my waist and hugs me. I laugh. “Yes, dog breath!”
“That is low.” He lets go and I run upstairs.
“Come on boy!” I shout down after him and whistle. He thunders upstairs and bursts into the bathroom. He sweeps me into his arms and takes me into my room he drops me on the bed. “What?” He smiles at me and cocks his head like a puppy. “I love you Amelia Benson.”
“I love you too.” I sit up and look at the clock on my desk. “Crap, it’s quarter to!” He pins me to the bed. “Wait here.” He goes downstairs. “Miss Vincent?” I get up and walk to the top of the stairs. “Yeah, I’m at Amy’s she won’t be able to come into school today her legs playing up. Sandra asked me to stay with her you know with everything that’s happening. Yeah, ok will do. Thanks, so you can cover for us. Ok thank you bye.” He hangs up and comes back up stairs. “Right no school.”
“Chris that was so wrong.”
“You could say that, you could also say that we have more time together.” He walks me backwards into my room. The back of my knees hits the bed and I fall backward onto it. We lay there and laugh.The front door swings open. Chris sits up. “What?” He stands up ignoring my question and goes down stairs. “Noah, what the hell man?!” I get up and go down after him. “Noah, wow no wheelchair.” I hug him and Chris goes red. I go into the kitchen and get us all a drink. “I saw you guys weren’t at school today and thought something had happened plus I wanted to show you.”
“Yeah it’s great, when did you go to the hospital?”
“Yesterday I didn’t want you guys to worry. That’s why I didn’t tell.” I look at Noah, he seems so happy like he’s a little kid who just got a new toy. Chris looks at him and smiles but then his face drops. “What, Chris?” He stands up and I follow his gaze a tall man with dirty blond hair is stood on the front garden. I can’t tell whether he’s a pixie or not. I make the assumption that he is. Chris runs to the door but by the time he has opened it the man has gone. “Stupid pixies they are definitely getting bolder. Noah I think it’s time to call your cousin.”
/> “Yeah me too.”
“Hello I am still here this is my house. What’s going on?”
“Ok I’ll explain after the phone call ok?” Noah gets his phone out of his pocket. He puts it on speaker and places it on the coffee table. “Hey Noah, what’s up?”
“Hey Dev, listen you know you said if I ever had a problem I could call you.”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Well...”
“Hurry up man I’m nearly at school.”
“Ok, so we seem to be having a slight pixie problem.”
“Slight’s a bit of an understatement Noah.”
“Who was that?” I realise I must have said it out loud and slap my hand over my mouth. “That was my mate Amy, she’s a half-ling.”
“Really and is she, you know?”
“A lot it is unbelievable.” The guy on the phone laughs. “So you think you can help us. Dev please, her father is a psycho.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, he is trying to kill her. He’s nothing like any other pixie you have told me about.” Noah bites his finger nails.
“Ok, I’ll see what I can do. Oh and Noah stop biting your finger nails.” The line cuts off and Noah shrugs. “So what is going on?”
“Ok, my cousin’s friend is a pixie. She was a half-ling like you but her dad wasn’t trying to kill her.”
“Ok?”
“So, my cousin knows how to deal with pixies.” Noah’s phone rings. “It’s Devyn.” He answers it. “Ok, I’m on my way I got out of school, told them I had to go away for some physiotherapy.”
“Cool.”
“Yeah, if you stay put Noah and I’ll be there soon. Don’t get too involved.”
“Dev, who are you talking to?” A girl’s voice comes from the background.
“Not now Is.”
“Who is it?” Noah asks.
“That’s my girlfriend Issie. She knows don’t worry.”
“Ok, so when are you gonna get here?”
“I’ll be about fourteen hours. I’ll see you at your house. Hey and maybe we can share scars.”
“Yeah ok Dev fly safe.” The phone goes dead and Chris laughs.
“That was so cheesy. ‘Fly safe.’”
“What?”
“He’s an eagle.”
“So?”
“Ok, guys we need a plan ok.”