Authors: Flora Dare
Chapter Two
How did my life come to this?
Danae wondered, absently as she fingered the phone receiver.
When she first came to the village of Flickend, she'd been full of hope and love. And if the villagers weren't fond of her, they hid it well enough. That is, until David was gone. Now she played their game, let them torment her. It's why she went to Neya, begging for help. Danae picked up the phone, her spirits buoyed, knowing that there was finally a chance at escaping all of this.
Danae tried to put a smile in her voice and said, “Hello.”
“Danae. It's Maude.”
Of course it is
, she thought, bitterly.
“What can I do for you, Maude?”
Maude was short and to the point. “Yer box is ready today.”
“Delightful, I'll head out. Oh, I have a guest, I'll bring him along, let you meet him.” It was the boldest she'd ever been, and hopefully Maude would be, well, not in a good mood, but a less sour mood, and would give her a little extra food.
“Great.” Maude hung up on her.
She called out down the hall, “We’ve got an errand to run. Looks like we’re going into town today after all.”
####
Danae stepped into Maude's shop, The Dented Kettle. She felt fairly certain Maude would ring up whatever she added to her regular order but braced herself for any snide comments she might sling Danae's way. Maude was only helping her for the notoriety of being the first to meet the new man in town, and to get the scoop on gossip.
Liam trailed after her, picking up various items and investigating them. He looked up at her and said, “I don't think I've ever spent as much time on dry land as I expect to with you.”
Danae said, “Keep your voice down. But is there anything you'd like to try?” Liam silently handed her the can.
She looked down and said, “Creamed corn? Really?”
Liam said, “It's just not something I get a lot of.”
“Well, all right then.” Danae couldn't help smiling at him. She walked smartly through the aisles, grabbing items here and there. She stepped up to the counter and said pleasantly, “Good afternoon, Maude.”
“Afternoon.” Maude nodded sharply at her but mostly kept her eyes on Liam.
He was certainly worth looking at
, Danae thought, feeling her skin prickle with goosebumps.
Danae said, “Thank you for the call, I always appreciate it. Do you mind if I add a few bits?” She waved at the additional food in her basket.
How had it come to this, begging to buy food?
If nothing else happened, Liam showing up reminded her that she could be free from these people.
“Course not.” Maude's sharp eyes were eating Liam up. She would be feted around town on this delicious bit of gossip. Actually meeting the mystery man? No afternoon tea would be complete without Maude now.
Danae handed over the money and said, “Oh, have you met my friend, Liam? Liam, this is Maude. She owns
The Dented Kettle
.”
He took Maude’s hand, and bowed over it, smiling at Maude. “How do you do, Ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you.”
Maude blushed to her white roots and tittered at him. If Danae hadn't been so tense and worried that Maude would figure out Liam was fae, she would have enjoyed watching the old battle axe trip all over herself.
Danae picked up the box of supplies and said, “Thanks, Maude. See you next week.”
“Wait a minute, girl.” Maude slipped a pie into her bag. “Guests need a good pie. You know mine is the best.” Maude grinned and waved them out the door.
Danae chortled and said to Liam, “Well, you certainly charmed her socks off. A pie? That’s a high honor from Maude. You're just lucky she didn't look at your aura. One glimpse of your less than human self, she'd have kicked us both out.”
“You know she can't refuse to serve me.” Liam sounded slightly scandalized at the idea that Maude or anyone in the village would have refused to serve him because he wasn’t human.
Danae clucked her tongue at Liam. “She can refuse to serve me though. And we're a long way from a Tribunal. Good luck proving that she’s broken the Covenant.”
“I'm glad it hasn't come to that. I guess I still don't understand why they are so against you. Are they that xenophobic?”
Danae shrugged and said, “If I were just an outsider, they wouldn't care. But...can we not talk about this while walking around the village?”
“I'm sorry, of course not.” Liam opened the car trunk, and Danae put the groceries in and shut the lid.
“Shall we go back to the house, or is there anything else you'd like to see if this little town?”
He said, “I don't suppose they are willing to serve you a meal, are they?”
“The pub is open, and they'll serve they are just...it's not pleasant. Although I imagine Lori would enjoy meeting you, the cow.” Danae grimaced at the thought of dealing with the woman.
“We can walk, at least. Just let me get the feel for this place.”
They wandered down the sidewalk, and Danae watched in amusement as the various shopkeepers found reasons to be near the windows, or sweeping their front steps. Everyone wanted a look at the new person in town.
“My goodness, I've been nodded at and acknowledged more times today than the last two years.” Danae glanced over towards Liam and was shocked at his grim face. “What's wrong?”
“These people are unkind to you. They have hard, ugly auras. Not like you. Yours is soft, delicate. Fragile. Do they not see? How do they not see, not care, that you’re in pain?”
“Liam, none of these people acknowledge that auras even exist, let alone look at them.”
“But why? It makes no sense, auras just are. Since the Veil was pierced, everyone can see them. It just takes some practice.”
She said, “They think it's a tool of the devil or mental illness. I think...”
She cut off her words as Simon stepped out of the alley, a buxom blond on his arm. He said, “Fancy seeing you here, prancing about town with your arm candy.”
Danae’s heart started racing, she was still scared of Simon. “Oh, hello, Simon. Lori.” She nodded at them, but didn't stop walking with Liam. She could feel his arm flex under hers.
Simon aggressively stepped in front of them, halting their progress. He plastered a smile on, but it didn't hide the loathing in Simon's eyes as he looked up at Liam. He said, “Aren't ya gonna officially introduce us?”
“Of course.” Danae wanted to just grab Liam and flee. But she was done running. This was her chance at freedom. She continued, “Simon. Lori. This is my friend, Liam.”
Lori's greedy little eyes swept over Liam and Danae felt, for the first time in her life, the sharp niggle of jealousy and possession. When Lori practically purred a greeting to Liam, Danae wanted nothing more than to claw her eyes out.
Lori batted her lashes as she extended a hand towards Liam and stepped far too close to him. She said, “My goodness, it's a pleasure to meet you. When you get bored of the charms of tacky little seaside cottages, I'm sure you can find a warm reception here, in town.”
Simon was at least as unhappy about Lori's fawning over Liam as Danae. His face got an ugly twist to it and he said, “Nice to meet you, Liam. I’m sure we’ll meet up again. We'd better keep moving, Lori, lots to do.” Simon took a firm grip on Lori's elbow and steered her away.
Danae and Liam watched the other couple move away. Simon's sharp tones toward Lori made his displeasure clear as they disappeared down the road.
Danae said, “Well, that was a bit unpleasant. I’m sorry you had to see Simon again.” She just had to hope the man wasn’t taken in by Lori’s very obvious charms.
“I counted my fingers after she shook my hand.” Liam's gentle tone hid a good dose of snarky humor. Danae giggled at the twinkle in his eyes. He took her by the hand and said, “Back to the house then, so we can take a walk on the shore.”
Chapter Three
They sat facing each other on the sofa.
“Ok, Danae. We're not in town, we're settled comfortably. Why do you let them treat you like that? I know they blame you for the accident, but it was just an accident, so why would they blame you, even years later. Make me understand.”
She took a deep breath and tried to sum up everything. “After the Veil was pierced and our worlds blended together, the town fought against the change. There was preacher here, a real hellfire and brimstone type. He hated magic, and thought auras were the devil lying to you. He got swept up in the war and when he came back, he was even more bitter and angry. He kept Flickend as hostile towards the Fae world as was allowed, until about ten years ago, when he disappeared. Mostly everything has settled down, but the town still doesn’t trust magic and auras. There is a lot of anger here.”
Liam said, “But you're human. You are not fae.”
Danae corrected him, “But I'm a human
witch
.” It was far more important to the village that she was a witch than that she was human. “I represent the awful sin of magic to the old guard of the town.”
Liam said, “Oh. Did they not know before, when you were married?”
She said, “They knew. Myrna, David's mother, protected me. But after the accident, everyone else, they thought if I were a good witch, I would have saved David and Alba. So they decided that I must have wanted them dead.”
Liam said, “Are you...no, I'm not ready for that memory yet. Can you share a memory of all of you together, a happy family?”
Danae hesitated, “You really have to see all of this?” She knew if she wanted to escape this place, she had to give him what Neya demanded, but the idea of sharing what she'd held on to so tightly was terrifying. To relive, over and over, something she would never get back.
“I do.” He extended his hand out, palm facing outward. She moved forward, and pressed her palm into his.
~ * ~ * ~
The waves were crashing into the beach. It was low tide and they all walked, hand in hand, splashing in the waves. They set up the picnic, plucking treats out of the basket.
“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. Let's go splash some more.”
“Let me finish my sandwich, Alba.” The little girl wiggled around on the blanket for a few minutes more.
“Daddy, you're done, take me up and let's go splash!”
David laughed, and they both looked at Danae. She grinned, unable to resist those twinkling blue eyes.
“Fine, go without me, I have my lunch to keep me company.”
She watched him scoop the little girl up and put her on his shoulders. He went splashing in the shallows, and she watched the sun glint off their golden hair and Alba's gales of laughter floated back to her on the wind.
~ * ~ * ~
Danae came back to herself, and pulled back from Liam.
“I'd forgotten about that day. It was a beautiful perfect day, the last one before...before we didn't have any more nice days.”
“You've never said her name to me.” He swung his head around, and looked at the walls. “There are no pictures of them, or of you.”
Danae shook her head at him, “No, not up.”
He said, “Not up?”
“When I was in the hospital, after, the ladies of the town came through.” She tried not to think too deeply on the pain. “I'm a witch, you see, so if I had pictures of people I could cast spells on them.”
“They broke into your house and stole them?”
She winced away from the anger in his voice. “No, well, they were going to. But David's mother, she came through and took them down and hid them.”
Liam said, “She had to hide the pictures of your family?”
“Emotions were very high at the time, people were not thinking clearly.”
He said, “Did you get the pictures back?”
“Yes. I keep one in my bedroom. The rest I've hidden away.” She paused and sighed. “I guess they've won, I don't even get to have pictures up.”
Danae got up abruptly and went into the kitchen. She needed some space away from the intensity of Liam's eyes. She pulled out some of her fresh supplies and set things up at her wooden block. She mixed the flour and eggs and lost herself in the rhythm of kneading bread.
She found she could forget everything if she just focused on the motions of her hands and the thickening lump of dough. Danae put the dough into a mixing bowl and covered it, then set it to the side to rise as Liam walked into the room.
He said, “I didn't mean to upset you.”
She kept her eyes on her hands. She didn't want to look into his eyes, they saw too deeply. “I knew this would be hard. I didn't realize it would be like being back in those memories again. Is it always like that for you?”
He shook his head. “No. If reliving the experience was that real, no one would want to leave their memories. They would be lotus eaters, simply playing those handfuls of perfect memories over and over and over again. Instead of allowing themselves to make new memories, they would never move past those moments. It would a trap.”
She sighed and said, “I suppose that's true. I still knew they were gone, even in the memory.”
Liam looked at her and smiled. “Thank you for sharing that with me.”