Keegan got to her feet and joined in the group hug. “Don’t keep secrets from us anymore, okay?”
Anna smiled. “I’ll try not to.”
As if I have room to talk, Keegan thought as they all returned to their seats.
Keegan moved her iPhone around the table as she spoke. “I really had no clue. Your family always seems so happy when they’re out in public.”
Anna met her eyes across the table. “I guess you never really know what goes on behind closed doors.”
Ain’t that the truth—if only they knew they were sitting across from a magical elf.
“I’m worried about my sister,” Anna said. “I don’t think she's going to handle it well at all. She’s quite a daddy’s girl.”
A mischievous grin crossed Lauren’s face. “Okay, enough negative thoughts for one day. We are going to Patrick’s party tomorrow night, right?”
Anna smiled. “Yeah, why not? At least I’ll be able to see Xavier.”
Keegan laughed. “Patrick is super cute.”
Lauren looked at Keegan in disbelief. “He’s also obnoxious as hell. You have the strangest taste.”
“Blah, blah, blah who cares. I didn’t say I wanted to marry the guy,” Keegan responded, waving off Lauren’s comment.
“Good point. What are you guys wearing?” Anna asked.
“We’ll figure out later what to wear,” Lauren said. “What’s the theme this time?”
“Dress to the nines.” Anna sounded slightly annoyed.
“Oh, that will be fun. We can all dress up. I needed an excuse to buy a new dress.” Lauren glanced over at Keegan. “You know what that means?”
“Shopping!” they replied in unison. Anna looked at them as if they were crazy.
After they finished eating, they walked back to Starbucks where Lauren had parked her car. Keegan unchained her bike from the bike rack in front of the cafe and the three of them managed to shove it in Lauren’s trunk, though the back tire jutted out. They took Anna home first, and then Lauren dropped Keegan off at her place, helping her unload her bicycle and roll it in the garage.
She pushed the heavy door open and walked in the house with her shoulders slumped, letting out a big sigh as she found her mother in the kitchen.
Mom looked up from her cup of tea, her blue eyes big under her cap of ginger-colored, pixie cut hair. She had a hardback book laid flat on the table, one small hand holding it open, the other holding her tea. She frowned and asked, “What’s bothering you?”
Keegan pulled out the stool next to her mom and sat down, letting her head rest in her hands. “My day was weird. I wanted to talk to you about it.”
She filled her mother in on all the details from what had happened at the fair to learning about Anna’s parents’ divorce. She ended with a request to give Anna’s mother a healing.
Her mother’s response took her by surprise. “Keegan, how could you have gone to a place with psychics without telling me?”
“Mom, it was just for fun. I didn’t think anything of it. Anna was so excited.”
Her mother sighed, a worried look crossing her face. “You have no idea the trouble this could bring us.”
Confused, Keegan asked, “Do you mean because of the dark elf?”
With a worried look still on her face, her mother said, “This is much bigger than you can understand. Once your father gets home we’ll have your grandmother come over and then decide what to do.”
Her mother jumped up and made some phone calls.
It wasn’t like her mom to be so cryptic. Keegan shivered, brushing the feeling away. She didn’t understand what was going on, but she hoped that her mom was just overreacting. Grabbing her iPad, she went up to her room.
She decided to do some research on dark elves and was surprised at how much information there was on Google. Obviously, most of the information was incorrect. The dark elf didn’t seem bothered that she was out during the day, and she was far from ugly. Most humans would be shocked if they knew the extent of supernatural beings that blended into their world each day.
Before the front door had even opened, Keegan knew her father was home. After the reaction her mother gave her, his presence made her feel a little apprehensive.
A few minutes later, she heard her grandmother arrived, the soft mumble of her voice drifting to her room. Her father’s voiced boomed up the stairs, “Family meeting!”
Keegan dragged herself from her desk chair and headed down the hall. Thaddeus glared at her as she passed his open doorway. He was sitting on the floor in front of his television, game controller in hand. “Are you kidding me, Keegan! What have you done this time? I’m in the middle of a game.”
Keegan stopped, leaning on the doorjamb and sighing. “Just get downstairs. You know how dad gets if he thinks we’re not listening to him.”
He reached over, grumbling under his breath, and turned off the Xbox. “This better be good.”
“I thought you knew everything,” Keegan teased as they started down the hall, ruffling her hand in her brother’s soft auburn hair. Though he was four years younger than her, he was quickly catching up to her in height.
“Shut up. You know that’s not how it works,” he responded, ducking away from her grasp.
They headed down the stairs as if they were marching to their death. Unplanned family meetings were generally not a good thing.
Warrick was sitting in the corner building towers out of his brightly colored blocks. Keegan envied the fact he was excused from family meetings because of his age. No one knew yet what his power would be. He was not yet two, but one glimpse into his inquisitive eyes revealed that he seemed to understand more than an infant could at his age. He babbled happily at her as she passed, so she gave him a quick kiss on the top of head.
Her mother and father sat on one side of the table, with her grandmother, Mary, seated quietly on the other side in her pressed khaki slacks and blue cardigan sweater.
Grandmother was a tiny woman with bright red hair, clear blue eyes, and youthful looks, thanks to her healing abilities. Her round, rosy face was always kind and usually smiling, but she looked more somber than Keegan could ever remember seeing her.
Keegan’s father liked things to be organized and official. His stocky body seemed to nearly take up the entire kitchen as he seated himself in his favorite armchair and gazed sternly at Keegan from across the table. “We have called this family meeting to deal with the consequences of Keegan’s actions.”
His blatant mention of her name made her flush with anger. “Excuse me? Consequences of my actions? All I did was go out with my friends. Why are you all making such a big deal out of this?” Keegan yelled.
Her grandmother placed a warm hand over hers, shooting Richard a look to be silent. “There are things that you don’t know and we were hoping we had more time to teach you. We wanted to let you guys be kids and not learn about the difficulties that come with our kind.”
As if on cue Warrick toppled his blocks and filled the house with laughter. Turning her wise eyes back to Keegan, Mary continued, “Do you even know what your father does?”
Keegan glanced at her father. Richard’s stern eyes were watching her silently, his large, muscular arms crossed over his chest. The scars that pockmarked his skin had always been there. “I know he was in the military and fought in many wars.”
“Yes, that is true but he serves a greater purpose than that,” her grandmother explained, shooting a soothing smile to Keegan’s father.
Still confused, Keegan asked, “How is that possible?”
Her grandmother closed her eyes and when she reopened them she began, “There is a war. It has been going on since the beginning of time. Great care has been taken to shield it from the eyes of humans. It is the war of dark and light. Your father is the chosen one; the one who will lead us in the great battle. We have reached a tipping point and it’s unknown who will win in the end.”
“Why are we even fighting?”
Emerald and Richard exchanged glances with Mary. Emerald sat forward, reaching across the table for her daughter’s hand. Feeling a little weird, Keegan took her mom’s hand with her free one, her grandmother still holding the other. They were acting like someone had died.
“Keegan, it’s a fight that began thousands of years ago. The two sides didn’t always hate each other. We once lived together in peace. However, there was a falling out by a single ruling family over a land dispute that led to a splintering of the two sides. As strong emotions can often do, the hatred has only built more as time has passed.” Her mother smiled sadly. “The battle has been coming for a long time. There is nothing we can do to stop it.”
Keegan looked over at her brother Thaddeus. “Shouldn’t he be able to tell us something?”
Thaddeus shook his head.
Although her brother was only twelve, he was one of the most powerful seers their kind had ever known; and he was only just beginning to come into his powers. It was always hard for her to believe that her brother, the same one who drove her crazy and lived on his Xbox, could see the future. She believed that was the reason he’d become so antisocial and preferred friends that were digital; with the exception of Sam, another elf with whom he’d been best friends with forever. It was overwhelming for Thaddeus to be around people. He had not yet gained the ability to block his gift, and as such, he was forced to see all the good, and all the terrible, things that would happen.
Her grandmother picked up the conversation. “He cannot see it because it has not been determined yet.”
“Well, then we still have a chance. What does my visit to the fair have to do with this?”
“Keegan, most of the people that go to those fairs are fakes and are in it for the money. On rare occasions, however, they are the real deal and possess true gifts. As you know, people do not always use their gifts for positive reasons. Going to a place like that could have given the dark elves an opportunity to find out more about us.”
Her grandmother leaned back in her chair and ran her hand across the green linen tablecloth on the table next to her. Without saying a word, Emerald stood to get her some more tea.
“You said that you couldn’t move when the girl made eye contact with you. Do you know why you couldn’t move? She was going through your mind and you didn’t even know it. Thankfully, you didn’t know anything of use to her.”
Still feeling defensive, Keegan asked, “Why are you telling me about this now?”
With a soothing voice, her grandmother replied, “Because the time is growing near, and we need our family to be prepared.” She gave Emerald a silent thank-you with her eyes as a steaming mug was placed in front of her.
Her parents were sat close together across the table, holding hands. Mother looked worried and her father looked determined. Being her usual self, Keegan didn’t see what everyone was so worked up about. So a war was going on which had been going on forever. They were powerful elves, and there were more of their kind. Not to mention all the other supernatural beings that were on the side of light. She honestly didn’t think they had anything to worry about.
“Has everyone said all you have to say because if so I’d like to go to my room,” Keegan said.
Her father slammed his fist on the table, startling Warrick who immediately began to cry. Emerald rushed to his side as her father snarled, “Damn it Keegan! You need to take this seriously. We are talking about losing our entire race. Do you want us to become extinct?”
This threw her for a loop. “Extinct? What do you mean?”
“I mean, if we do not win this we will all be erased and evil will take over. Is that what you want?” He looked like an avenging god, as if he should be holding a lightning bolt, preparing to smite his enemies.
They had her attention. She hadn’t even met Rourk yet, and she was greatly looking forward to her future with him. “I’m sorry.”
“There is something else you need to know, my love,” Mary went on. Keegan looked contritely away from her dad, giving her attention to her grandmother. “The Book of Elfin prophecy specifically mentions a child of the light who will be born with the gift of sight. A child whose father will lead the elves in battle.”
Keegan glanced back to her father. He nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out before speaking, “A child who could save our people from extinction.”
“Who?”
“Me,” Thaddeus answered, so softly Keegan almost didn’t hear him.
She let go of her grandmother’s hand, falling back in her seat, stunned. “Oh.”
There was silence for a long moment as her family let the information sink in.
Keegan rallied herself, even though her heart was beating like a hummingbird’s wings. She had no idea what to say. “Okay. Tell me what you would like me to do.”
Looking over at his daughter thankfully, Richard drew a deep breath. “For starters, we need to work on your fighting skills. Your brother is more than capable. You, on the other hand, need some work.”
Glaring at her brother across the table, he smirked back at her. Their father caught the exchange, “Not so fast, son,” he said. “You are going to be the one to train her.”
His reaction was priceless. A look of disbelief came over his face it was quickly replaced with the same look her father had whenever he was given a task, Keegan knew she was in trouble. Training with Thaddeus would be grueling. He’d take no pity on her. Her brother was considered rare. It was not often that an elf had two main powers. Keegan’s father had come from a long line of warriors. It was almost impossible for him not to pass that on to his son. However, along with his gift of strength that was not just physical but also mental; Thaddeus was also a seer. This was only known to have happened one other time in their history. Usually seers were weak and needed to be taken care of. That wasn’t the case with Thaddeus. His two gifts made for a deadly combination.
As if her father had thought the same thing, he continued, “Thaddeus, you need to work on protecting yourself. I will have your mother work with you.”
Her mother spoke up, “We do not expect you to give up your lives. We just want you to take your spare time to sharpen your skills. You also need to be more aware. Creatures of the dark will start showing up more often the closer we get.”
Keegan hugged her grandmother, said goodnight to everyone else and went up to her room. She felt mentally exhausted as she grabbed her phone and fell back on the bed. Five texts waited for her. Anna asked what she was going to wear to the party. Lauren wondered if Josh could come with her to the party and Donald wanted to know if she wanted to go to the movies with him, Spencer, Sam and Calvron. This brought a smile to her face. She really liked Donald; too bad he didn’t feel the same. Oh well, there was always Patrick who had sent her two texts. Apparently, he heard she was coming to the party. News traveled fast. She didn't bother to reply; she had too much running through her head.
Hopefully, her parents were overreacting with all the talk of a great battle. She laid in bed and thought about that for awhile. What if they really did become extinct and she never got to meet Rourk? She had their whole life planned out! She'd been dreaming of meeting her chosen since she was a little girl.
With all her thoughts muddled and swirling through her mind, Keegan eventually drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 4
Rourk tensed as Keegan thought his name but quickly pushed it away; he had other things to deal with at the moment. This dark elf had been properly trained and had evaded him so far. He sensed her movement and knew she was to the right of him, but he continued to look straight ahead, knowing if he looked to the right she would be gone. He tried his best to seem completely baffled as if he couldn’t figure out where she might be.
Thinking he’d lost sight of her, the dark elf moved forward. Rourk pounced. She might have been well trained, but he was gifted and she didn’t stand a chance. For good measure, he shielded his mind as he threw her against the wall. She looked annoyed be
cause she could not use her gift on him.
Rourk asked, “What do you want with the girl?”
The dark elf glared back at him. “I want nothing from her. I just happened to notice another elf and wanted to read her mind.”
He pushed his forearm deep into her throat, “What were you doing at the fair?” he growled as the dark elf struggled under his grasp.
She flinched as she looked into his grey eyes. “I was just having fun. I was bored and I like messing with humans.”
Rourk searched her face and decided she was telling the truth. Relaxing his grip, he stared into her eyes. “Make no mistake. If you go near the girl again, I will kill you.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever, I have no interest in the girl.”
Rourk sensed she was trying to look calm but could tell she was visible shaken.
“She is lucky.”
“What?” Rourk asked.
“Lucky to have someone who cares so much for her.” Looking down at her black leather Converse, she scuffed her foot against the concrete.
“Just get out of here,” Rourk sighed.
He watched the dark elf walk down the alley. She turned once to look at him and then hurried on. Watching the girl disappear around the corner, he hoped his chosen one had made it home safely.
He closed his eyes to check on her and saw she was home. A rush of relief filled his body. The constant worrying could stop for the night. He headed home.
***
Keegan was lying in bed asleep when someone knocked on the door. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes, and called, “Come in.”
Her mom stuck her head in and smiled. “Hey.”
Keegan grinned back, running her hands back through her hair. “Hey, Mom.”
Emerald walked in, pulling the door to behind her, and propped on the edge of the bed. Staring at her daughter, she pushed a strand of her hair out of her face, her blue eyes searching. “What are you thinking about?”
Keegan glanced up at her mother sheepishly. “Rourk.”
A smile crossed her mom’s face as obviously recalled the days when she used to dream about her own chosen partner. “You’ll meet him soon enough.”