04 Shadow Blood - Witch Fairy (16 page)

“Please tell me that you at least know where your aunt is,” Isla says as she pushes her long hair back from her barely aging face.

My joy at surviving the tidal wave flows from me like the water did a moment ago.  “I do.  I don’t think she’s far from here.  She’s trying to hide in forest.”

Kallen smiles as he sits up.  “Then it is a good thing that my cousin and I know every inch of that forest.”

“I’m sorry I almost drowned you both.”

Kallen pulls me into his lap and plants his lips on mine.  After a moment, he pulls back an inch and murmurs against my lips, “I wouldn’t know what to think if a day went by that I didn’t fear for my life in your presence.”

A giggle escapes my lips.  I wrap my arms around his neck and say, “I’d be mad if I hadn’t just proved your point a minute ago.”

“I, for one, would be quite pleased if I went the rest of my days without having to fear for my life in your presence,” Isla says as she stands.  Her clothes are already dry from her magic.  “I believe I will check on Tabitha.  Kallen, let me know if you need assistance in bringing her aunt back.  In the meantime, I will prepare a room for her until we are able to remove the unwanted pieces of souls.”  By prepare a room for her, I don’t think she means putting clean sheets on the bed.  Pretty sure she’s talking about some kind of jail cell.

Kallen nods up to her.  “I will.”

Getting to his feet, he offers me a hand as he dries both of our clothes.  “Ready to go for another walk in the woods?” he asks, reminding me of our first journey together. 

“I guess.  Maybe someday, we’ll be able to do it for fun.”

Chapter 18

“I believe you made that hurt more on purpose,” Kegan grumbles as he walks into the kitchen holding his head.  I guess Kallen filled him in through a mind message.

I scowl up at Kallen’s simpering expression.  “I would never dream of it, cousin.”

Kegan gives him a dirty look.  When his gaze shifts to me, he quickly looks away.  “We are to search the forest for her aunt?” he asks.  He is definitely uncomfortable being in the same room with me.  That sucks.

“You could kiss him and make him feel better.”

“Not helping.”

“On the contrary, that would help us very much.  You, us, and Kallen and Kegan in the woods.  What could be better?”

“You not being there.”

“Xandra, are you coming?” Kallen asks.  He’s looking at me like I might be crazy again.  I’m pretty sure I’m getting close.

“Yeah, just talking to the voices in my head,” I mumble.

“Did you say you are talking to voices in your head?”

No point in lying about it.  “Yes, the little pieces of souls can talk to me.”

“In your head?”

I scowl at him again.  “If it was out of my head, you’d be able to hear them, right?”

His eyebrows rise.  “You are the one with voices in your head and you are upset with me?”

“Give her a break; we have to go hunting for her possessed aunt who probably has voices of her own in her head.”  Kegan still avoids eye contact with me, but at least he’s acknowledging my presence.

“Kegan, I’m really sorry about…”

“Xandra, please,” he says, finally looking me in the eye.  “I am embarrassed enough; can we please never talk about it again?”

I bite my lower lip and nod.  I wanted us to be friends.  I don’t know if that will be possible now.

“I know what would help.”

I’m going to ignore that.  I sigh and look up at Kallen.  “Ready?”

My clothes change into dark jeans and a black long sleeved tee with a black hoodie.  I have trainers on my feet and I have to give Kallen credit, they’re pretty comfortable.  He could make a fortune selling them in my realm.  Except for that whole having to keep the magic in place or they’ll disappear thing.  That might get a little difficult with a hundred thousand pairs of shoes out there. 

Kallen’s outfit is basically the same as mine so we look like twins.  With a 12 inch height difference.  Kegan has also changed into dark clothing which seems appropriate for the brooding look on his face.  So, I guess we’re ready to go hunting for Aunt Barb.

Kallen takes my hand as we step outside.  The night air is getting a little cool since we are so close to the ocean, so I appreciate the long sleeves.  Before we start walking, I try to describe to Kallen what I saw in the water.  “She’s somewhere near a really tall rock face that has paintings on it, and there was sort of a clearing around her.”

I get a one eyebrow raise on that.  “Paintings.  That is all you can tell us?  There are hundreds of rocks with aboriginal artwork on them.”

I shrug.  I probably should have paid better attention, but I was drowning at the time.  “It’s a big rock.”

Kegan chuckles behind us.  “What were the pictures
of
, Xandra?”

I chew on my lip as I think about it.  “There was a picture of a man, I think.  It sort of looked like a cross between a man and a grasshopper.”

Kallen grins at Kegan over my head.  “Namarrgon.”

“Did you just make up a word?”

Kallen puts his arm around my shoulder and steers me in the direction he wants to go.  “No, my little Witch Fairy, I did not.  Namarrgon is the name of the creature on the rock face you mention.  It is one of the few hand-made landmarks that transcends realms.”

My brows scrunch together.  “How does it do that?”

“That is the mystery.  Some say that it was painted during the Dreamtime, or the creation period, when knowledge and natural law was brought into being.  Namarrgon was the creator of lightning and thunder.”

“And this occurred in both realms?”

“That is the belief, yes.”

Interesting, maybe there’s more to folklore than I ever thought.  “Did he really look like a grasshopper?”

Kallen laughs.  “Apparently.”

Kegan has moved ahead of us to take the lead.  We didn’t bring flashlights, or whatever they use in this realm – flying fireballs or something?  So, I stumble behind them as they effortlessly avoid rocks and low hanging branches while I’m catching them all.  Again,I’m grateful for the long sleeves I have on; it’s my hoodie that catches the brunt of it instead of the skin on my arms. 

Several times, I lose sight of both Kegan and Kallen.  Since I can only see about three feet in front of me, it’s pretty easy to do.  I think Kallen may have forgotten that I didn’t grow up here; so I don’t know the lay of the land like they do.  I think when we’re back in my realm, I’ll make him stumble around in the woods around my house without a flashlight.  See how he likes it.

 We walk for about twenty minutes in silence.  Well, silence except for the strange insect noises and animals rustling in the darkness that I’m not used to hearing, making me jump every thirty seconds or so.  I know they don’t want to give away our approach, but I’m not liking the silence at all.  I’m getting seriously freaked out.  A piercing scream that sounds like what I would imagine a banshee to sound like – I wonder if they really exist – makes me let out a squeal of fear. 

Kegan stops suddenly and puts a finger to his lips as he turns around and motions to the right.  Kallen nods, grabs my arm, and pulls me in that direction.  Okay, now I’m even more freaked out.  What made that god awful noise? 

I try really hard not to make noise or trip over any exposed roots as Kallen pulls me behind a fallen log, but I’m not nearly as good at it as Kallen is.  I trip more than squat behind the log.  I’m betting every animal in the forest can hear my heart beat.  I expect Kegan to follow us, but he went off in the opposite direction. 

I thought we had finally found Aunt Barb, but when Kallen points Kegan out about twenty feet away, I realize that’s not what we’ve found.   We’ve found a strange little animal feeding on the carcass of a snake.  It’s making really horrible noises as it tears the snake to pieces with its mouth.  For the first time since walking into this forest, I’m glad I can’t see much in the dark. 

“What is that?” I whisper to Kallen.

Instead of answering me, he puts his finger to his lips.  I scowl up at him, but his face is dead serious.  I don’t say anything else.  I turn back to the grotesque scene going on several yards away. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kegan sneaking up on the small black animal.  He gets about three yards from it before it stops eating and turns to bear its teeth at him.  The sound that comes from the animal’s throat is like a combination of a screaming baby and nails on a chalk board with a little bit of retching thrown in.  My hands jump to my ears on their own volition. 

In a flash, the animal lunges at Kegan with the speed and force of a rocket.  It’s little mouth is wide open as if it’s planning to take as big of a chunk out of him as he can.  In a movement that I barely see, Kegan has a slingshot in his hands, loaded with a large rock.  He lets it fly as the little monster is almost on him.  The rock hits the animal in the chest hard enough to stop its upward projection and it falls to the ground with a thud.  Just as I’m about to get mad at Kegan for killing it, it jumps back up and growls at him again.  This time, though, it does it backing away as Kegan flings another rock at it.  After a last ear-shattering cry, it turns around and runs off into the woods, leaving its dinner behind.

Kallen is laughing and shaking his head as Kegan approaches us.  “Cousin,” he whispers, “you are getting more reckless.  One day, the devil will be the victor.”

Devil?  What is he talking about?  I’m about to ask when Kegan says, “You worry too much, Kallen.  That has always been a weakness of yours.”

“What are you two talking about?  What devil?”

I think Kallen was about to come back with a witty retort to Kegan, but Kegan cuts him off to answer my question.  “Tasmanian devil.  Meanest little creature in any realm.  He would sooner bite your hand off than let you come within a foot of him.”

“That was a Tasmanian devil?”  Hmm, I guess they’re not the funny, drooling and whirling things they are in the cartoons.  “They’re really that dangerous?  It wasn’t any bigger than a cocker spaniel.”

“But a cocker spaniel won’t tear you apart and eat you, hair and bones and all.”

I give him an ‘I don’t believe you’ look.  “Right, something that small is that dangerous.”

“It is true,” Kegan says with a grin, apparently forgetting to be uncomfortable around me for the moment.  I hope it lasts.  “They are nasty little creatures.  They will attack at the slightest provocation.”

I put my hands on my hips and shake my head.  “And yet you still got that close to it before getting it to run off?”

“My cousin is not always wise,” Kallen says and there’s an underlying edge to his words that I don’t think he meant to have.  Maybe.

Suddenly, Kegan isn’t grinning anymore.  “I enjoy the challenge of the confrontation.  Even if the outcome is not always in my favor.”

“Perhaps you should choose your battles more wisely.”

Suddenly, I don’t think they’re talking about Tasmanian devils anymore.  “Um, guys, can we keep looking for my aunt now?”  I don’t think the forest is big enough for a showdown of their egos, and their testosterone.

Without another word, Kegan turns and starts walking again in the direction we had been headed before the Tasmanian devil held us up.  Kallen takes my hand in his, a little possessively I notice, and we follow.  I suddenly appreciate the silence.