Twist of Fae (8 page)

"I guess," he replied with the hint of a smile as
the Faeries moved on to Nikki. "It's just… It's a lot to take in."

"It is a lot to take in. Believe me, I know. When all
this first started, I thought I was going nuts. But then… Well, let me just get
my new phone and we'll talk," I said as I walked back into the house to
get the Sonim. I called O'Malley from the kitchen so I could verify that Nikki
would be freed up. When he didn't answer, I left a voice message with my new
number. When I came back outside, both Jay and Nikki were in the yard studying the
oak tree. I let Sendy know she could go back to what she had been doing and
then walked over to them.

"Dad, what the hell is causing this?" Nikki asked.

"Yeah, it looks like the tree is glowing," added
Jay. "There's something there, I can feel it."

"You can see it
and
feel it?" I asked.
"That's good! That means the magic really is part of you. What about you,
Nikki?"

"Yeah, I feel it, too!" she said. "What does
it mean?"

"Watch," I said as I put my hand on the tree.
"Aeva, come forth."

The glow from the tree intensified as the Hamadryad within
made her presence known. As before, a small figure began to materialize in
front of us. She was dressed in white and tendrils of magic floated between her
and the tree. When she was fully formed she turned to me and smiled.

"Yes, my Lord?" she said.

"Aeva, I'd like to introduce you to my children. This
is my son, Jay, and my daughter, Nikki."

"My Lord and Lady," she replied, walking up to
each of them in turn and bowing before them. "Long have we awaited your
arrival."

"You've been waiting for us?" Jay asked, studying
her as if he was trying to decide if she was real.

"Of course," she replied. "You are our
future, especially you, my Lady."

"Me?" Nikki asked.

Aeva looked over to me as if waiting for approval to say
something.

"Yeah, about that. That's part of what we haven't
gotten into yet. But remember that Faerie Princess comment? You're not too far
off. I'll explain later. Aeva," I continued. "Tell my Aunt to expect
a visit and we'll continue introductions later."

"As you command, my Lord. But may I ask a
question?"

"Of course," I replied.

"May I spread the word to the others that our Lady is
coming?"

"Of course," I said.

"Thank you my Lord," she said before disappearing
back into the tree.

"What does she mean, Dad," Nikki asked. "And
what was that wisp of smoke that led back to the tree from her?"

"That was what magic looks like," I said. Ignoring
her other question, I began to walk back towards the house. "Aeva is a
Hamadryad and unlike us, she's bound to her tree. What you saw was the magic
that linked her to it. Like everything else, the rest is kind of complicated. Come
on, let's go inside and I'll try and explain things."

"Finally," Jay said as he and Nikki followed.
Charlie came in as well, with the Imp trailing behind them.

"Have a seat," I offered as we came into the
kitchen. I walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a
Tardis
mug before
filling my cup. "Anyone else?"

Alf looked at me and gestured with his fingers. What the
hell, I thought, so I poured him a tumbler.

"I think I need a beer," Nikki replied. "But
I'm supposedly still working."

"Yeah, that should be taken care of. Jay, too."

"What do you mean?" he asked. "And I'll take
a cup."

"I talked to the head honcho over at the EAB. As far as
anyone is concerned, you're both tied up with them on a project there for the
next day or so," I said as I put a cup down in front of Jay. "Nikki,
I'm waiting for a call back from O'Malley to confirm."

"O'Malley? Why O'Malley?" she asked. "He is
not in my chain of command."

"Wait, you talked to the head of EAB?" Jay asked. "The
new guy, Samson?"

"One at a time," I responded. "First, I know
O'Malley is not in your chain of command, but he's one of us so he'll deal with
it. Second, yes, I met him. That's why I was there. Hell, that's why we were
all there. Apparently that's what EAB does. They like to keep tabs on our
kind."

"Jeez, Dad. What have we gotten into?" Jay asked
before Nikki jumped in.

"One of us? O'Malley is one of us?" she asked,
incredulously. "I think I need that beer now."

"It's not as bad as it sounds. I mean the EAB
part," I said, grabbing one from the fridge. "And yes, O'Malley is a
Fae. A descendant of Irish Gods. But before I get into all that, let me start
at the beginning…"

I began to tell them the story. How I'd gotten into the
firefight with the Mages that night I'd saved Milagre and the spell my
grandmother had placed on me to protect me from the Fae world when I was a boy
was broken. Then I talked about being a High Fae and all the trouble I'd gone
through learning how the magic was supposed to work. I went on to briefly cover
the fight with the dark Fae and the other battles with her followers before finally
getting up to the part about freeing the Lilin. I didn't cover everything. That
would have taken days; but at least I gave them a good summary of what had
happened up until now. For the most part, I'd gotten through the timeline with
only one interruption. That being the return phone call from O'Malley. Nikki
spoke to him briefly and then with a promise to tell him all about it later, I
got through the chain of events that led up to the here and now and then stopped
after telling them about the meeting with Samson.

"Any questions before I go on?" I asked.

"Jeez, Dad," Nikki finally said. "Where do I
begin? I mean, unless we've all gone crazy. But why is this just happening now?
Why not a long time ago?"

"I don't get that either," Jay agreed. "But
maybe the best question is, what now? I mean what does this mean for us? Is
what happened to Nikki and me yesterday going to keep happening?"

"Let me answer Jay's question first. Yeah, it probably
will. But now that you know what it is you will be able to control it. But there's
still a lot more that I need to show you. I wish I could make it easier, but
the reality is your world has changed and there's nothing I can do about it. On
the plus side, your jobs, as well as your roles in the human world are secure.
But as to the Fae side, the magic is there. We're just gonna have to play it by
ear as to what powers manifest themselves. I also have to admit that this has
added a whole new level of danger to your lives, and for that I'm truly sorry. My
enemies will become your enemies, but that isn't anything new. Both of you live
with that every day in your jobs, and we've dealt with that kind of thing as a law
enforcement family before. Fortunately, I have a lot of allies, and you can
learn how to deal with any threat from the Fae side that may come up. There are
a lot of differences between the worlds, but I can teach you those."

"As to your question Nikki, I just don't know. From
everything I can gather, I should have found out about this at least twenty
years ago. For whatever reason, things apparently didn't go as planned. And
believe me, everything but the timeline was all planned out by Maria and
others. I only have theories but nothing really concrete to go on."

"What kind of theories?" they both asked.

"Well, I'm somewhat convinced my mother and father's
plane crash wasn't an accident, but I have no proof. As to my grandmother, I
don’t know. As far as I know she died in her sleep. Hell, she was in her
nineties, or at least I thought she was. But that's still pretty old for a
human, even if she was once a Fae. All I know is that she died before she was
ready to tell me. But I have no clue why. It just doesn't add up. It's a
mystery, but maybe we can figure it out together." I slapped my hands on
my knees and stood up. "Anyway, it's been a long afternoon and we can't
solve all the world's problems in a day. Why don’t we take a break? I'm
thinking it's time to grab a bite, and I know a great place in Fae to take you."

"In Fae?" Nikki asked. "You're serious? We're
going there?"

"We are, and there's no time like the present to do so.
Besides, I can answer most of your questions anywhere, so let's do a little
sightseeing. "

"What do we have to do?" asked Jay as they
followed me out of the kitchen. "And how do we get there?"

"Well, as to the what, you might want to change your
clothes. You both have jeans upstairs. As for me, I'm tired of this suit, and
we might as well get comfortable before we go," I said as I directed them
upstairs. "As to the how, well," I said with a laugh. "I don’t
want to spoil the surprise."

They both headed up the stairs, but by the look Nikki was
giving Jay, I knew she was still trying to come to grips with it all.

Before going up to change myself, I told Charlie that they
were going to need suitable clothes once we got there and to make the
arrangements. It wouldn't do to go tromping around there in jeans and a t-shirt.
We'd dealt with this before, the first time I crossed over. Before he left, I
also decided to have him get some weapons. A sword for Jay and a bow for Nikki
should do it. Things may be quiet at the moment, but it never hurt to be
prepared.

I also asked Alf if he wanted to join us but, once again, he
declined. He hadn't given me cause to be concerned but it still paid to be wary.
I wasn't really worried about him staying at the house alone. The Garden
Faeries would keep an eye on him, and besides, with the wards I had in place he
couldn't cause too much trouble.

By the time I had changed, both kids were back downstairs in
the kitchen and when Nikki saw me she gulped and almost spilled her beer. Even
Jay seemed speechless.

"What the …," she exclaimed. "Dad, what kind
of costume is that?"

"What?" I answered, looking down at my Fae
clothing. I was wearing a close fitting sea green leather outfit with matching
boots. The same clothes that had been given to me by Meredith on our last
adventure. "I'll have you know that was given to me by the Queen of the
Nereids. That's the ocean Fae, before you ask, and there's a lot more to it
than meets the eye."

"Ok," Jay said, trying to stifle a laugh. "If
you say so."

"Hey, just wait till you see what I get you," I
said. "Besides, at least you're gonna be able to cross over wearing clothes.
I could make you show up naked."

"Dad!" Nikki snorted. "That's gross."

"That wasn't a joke," I explained. "As you
may have noticed with Fiora's lack of attire and Sendy's wings, there is no
nudity taboo among the Fae and if you show up naked, you probably aren't hiding
a weapon. Which reminds me, let's lock yours up in the safe before we go. You
won't need them there and besides, they aren't that effective against the kind
of bad guys we'd come up against anyway. I'll get you new ones before we're
done." I took both their guns and ammo and locked them in the safe before
joining them again and having them follow me into the backyard.

"Ok, lesson one," I said, leading them back to the
tree that they had first seen Aeva at. "Dryads, those Fae that we are part
of, are the nymphs of trees, specifically, oak trees. Because of that, we can
use this oak to travel to Fae."

"Wait a minute," Jay interrupted. "And I
can’t believe I'm saying this, but didn’t you say we were descended from the
Greek Goddess, Demeter? And how do we use an oak tree to go anywhere?"

"I did say that, and I'm about to show you. Look,"
I implored. "There's plenty of time for a history and genealogical lesson
later so let me give you the nickel version. For the most part, Fae magic comes
from the element the Fae is part of. We're part of the Dryad realm. Our magic
comes from the plant world. If we were water Fae, it'd be water. Sendy, being a
sky Fae, gets hers from the air. There are a few caveats to that, but I'm not
going to go into them now. Got it?"

"Not really," Jay admitted, but they both nodded.

"It's just gonna have to do for now," I replied, realizing
that they were probably on information overload. "Now, since this tree has
a Hamadryad, we're going to ask her to transport us."

"What if there wasn't one?" Nikki asked. "A
Hamadryad, I mean."

"If there wasn't one, then you'd need enough magic and
the knowledge of how to use it to order the tree to be the gateway. But that's
another lesson in itself. Trust me, this way is a lot easier to learn."
With that said I summoned Aeva again.

"My Lord," she said as she appeared.

"Aeva, we wish to travel to Fae now," I said
"Have the preparations been made?"

"Yes, my Lord. Sophie is on her way and Karalos should return
shortly," she replied, using the Greek form of Charlie's name. As to
Sophie, she was another hound that lived in Fae. She had been my guide in the
past, as well as having been one tasked to protect my Fae lands.

"Thank you, Aeva." Then I turned back to the kids.
"No time like the present," I said with a wink. Then I grabbed a hand
from each of them before they could back out. There was a flash and we were
somewhere else.

J
AY

Visions, and now Faeries. What the hell had I stepped into?
I'm not sure if I would have believed anything my dad said if I hadn’t gone
through what I did yesterday and this morning. Today had turned into a surreal
version of the Twilight Zone. Then again, maybe I was dreaming. Maybe I didn’t
save someone yesterday. Maybe I was the one that got shot. Maybe I'm in a coma.
Like that British TV show I used to watch on BBC America. That get up that
Dad's wearing. He loves a joke, but there's something about it that's too weird
to not be real. No, I don’t think so. I'm not in a coma, I'm here and I think this
is really happening.

I'm not sure what Nikki went through, but yesterday's vision
had been different. More like an out of body experience… but I still knew I'd
been in the car when it was happening. And this morning with the EAB. They knew
I was something else. Guerrier out and out said so. He was stunned when I told
him he was crazy. I knew there was more going on with those guys than met the
eye!

Dad's explanations and then the Faerie's with the wings… and
that Imp, what was his name? Alf or something? There's no way I could have
dreamt them up. But this Faerie, this Hamadryad… There's something about her… I
don’t know… but whatever it is, it's almost like I'm supposed to know her.
Maybe that's what he meant when he said the magic was part of me. It's like I
already do know her.

I was still lost in thought when Dad grabbed my hand. There
was a strange feeling like goosebumps over my entire body, and then we were
somewhere else.

"Whoa," was all I could think to say as I stepped
into what Dad called Fae. "That was different. Are we in a forest?" I
had to blink my eyes a few times to get everything to come into focus.

"Looks like," Nikki agreed. I saw her turn towards
Dad, and her expression turned from amazement into shock. "What the hell?
Dad, is that you?"

I looked to see what she was talking about and instead of my
dad there was someone else standing there. No, holy shit… that was Dad.

"Oops,
forgot
to
mention
that
part,"
he
said.

Nikki was going on about him looking like he did in old
pictures, and I'll be damned if he didn't. He looked like he did back when he'd
first become a cop. Or maybe like when he and Mom had first been married. Then
she walked up to him and put her hands on his face and head. I heard an ouch as
she pulled his hair, and then he laughed.

"I guess I forgot lesson number two," he said.
"Things aren't always what they seem."

"But how," I asked. "Or maybe I should ask
why. Why do you look different here? Wait a minute. Something's not right… I
feel different too!" I put my hands on my face before reaching down to
check the rest of my body. It was different, but for some reason it was ok.

"It's kind of hard to grasp at first," Dad began.
"But like I said, you can’t think of yourself as human anymore. The Fae
side is the magic part and this is its home. Here, you'll appear in what I call
your Fae persona. You guys aren’t that old, so the difference isn’t that great,
but you'll feel stronger and more in tune with the world here, and your senses
will be sharper. It'll take a while to sort it all out. For now just try and
get used to it."

This was crazy. But he was right, I did feel more in tune
with the world. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think I've ever felt this good.
Not just physically, but mentally as well. I felt almost like…almost like I was
home.